Rebel Yell
by JohnnyCadesChick
Summary: There's just...something about him. Makes me wonder, but it makes me kinda scared." When the new girl in town becomes a greaser, her family is shunned. But she'll do anything for Johnny Cade...LAST CHAPTER UP!
1. Hey, Carrie Anne

Hey, it's me again

**Hey, it's me again! Let me cut to the chase: I deleted my Thunder story, but for many reasons. 1. I got tired of it 2. I uploaded fifteen documents and it wouldn't let me do any more, so I'm very confused about that and need help 3. I felt it was becoming a Mary-Sue. I'm afraid this will to, but I'll try my very hardest not to let it. Please, if you have any suggestions let me know! I need feedback on this because I'm not really sure where it's going to go. And I just thought before going to sleep last night that I am going to make a sequel to this.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE OUTSIDERS OR THE SONG CARRIE ANNE BY THE HOLLIES.**

_Hey, Carrie Anne_

_Hey, Carrie Anne_

_When we were at school our games were simple_

_I played the janitor, you played the monitor_

_Then you played with older boys and prefects_

_What's the attraction in what they are doing?_

_Hey, Carrie Anne, _

_What's your game now can anybody play?_

_Hey, Carrie Anne_

_What's your game now can anybody play?_

"So, do you know where you're going?" Noel asked me as we walked to school. I shook my head. "Any vague idea of where your classes are?" What an interesting almost repeat of her first question. How would I know where my classes are? I've only lived here for two days! I shook my head again. "Well then, I am going to meet my friends when we get to school, and listen to me Carrie Anne. You better not-"

I didn't get to hear the rest of her threat. She was interrupted by a swerving old car that nearly came up on the sidewalk next to us. She screamed and I just stood there and laughed. I wasn't scared. A boy with rusty-colored hair came out on the sidewalk and leaned up against his car. He opened his mouth to say something, but when he saw Noel, he just laughed at her. I had no idea who he was, but I think Noel did. She gave him a dirty look and pointed straight at the road ahead. He smirked at her and I was still laughing. He winked at me and got back in his car. Then she flipped him off. "STUPID GREASER!" Noel yelled as he sped off down the road.

I didn't bother to ask her who that was, but I did want to ask her why she was such a pain in the butt to him. I would have done the same thing he did just because I hated her from the first time I saw her. I was pretty sure she hated me too, so I didn't feel bad about that statement. Don't think I'm a mean person or anything; it's just the way I am.

Noel turned to me, rolled her blue eyes and tossed her curly blonde hair over her shoulder. "I hate him."

"Why?" I asked innocently. As if it wasn't obvious enough. I couldn't tell from the way she glared at him, flipped him the bird, and got all angry just because the guy didn't hit her with his car.

"Because he's a greaser, are you stupid or something, Carrie Anne? Don't they have greasers where you're from?" she asked. I shook my head, but then she didn't so much as glance before continuing on. "You best stay away from him. Greasers are nothin but trouble," she warned me. I was still very confused. I had no idea what a greaser was and why she had a reason to hate that guy. It's not like he hit her with his car in an angry manner. I could understand blowing up over that. He _pretended_ to hit her with his car in a humorous manner. There is a difference just in case you were wondering.

I'm Carrie Anne West. I'm fifteen years old and I just moved here to Tulsa, Oklahoma from northern Michigan. I have dark brown hair that's almost to my shoulders and light green eyes. I'm about 5'5, shorter than a lot of people I know, and I can be very sarcastic. And slow. Okay, so I'm a lot of things. I don't use sarcasm out loud very much, and every time I open my mouth people use something along the lines of what Noel said, "Are you stupid or something, Carrie Anne?" "Are you retarded?" "Were you born yesterday?" "You're not the nicest Beatles record in the store."

The last remark I have no idea what it means. But that's what Noel said two days ago when I met her for the first time. What do I care? The Beatles annoy me with their…their…clothes! And their stupid music! I dig Elvis, him and everyone else.

Yup, Noel Herbert…well. She's our neighbor. Her dad is my dad's new boss, and her mother is forcing her to be friendly toward me. I don't think she's doing a very good job of it, but I can't complain. She's the only person my age that I know so far. That will probably change because it's the first day of school. Thank God I'm not moving in the middle of the school year again. Now that was tough. My dad's job causes us to move a lot. I don't know exactly WHAT he does because he doesn't really talk about it and I don't feel like listening, but I've moved a LOT. My little sister Charlene was starting first grade at another school today. But anyway, his job had caused us to move to the West Side of Tulsa. I didn't like it. Everyone was dressed so fancy and they all seemed so snotty. I didn't do either of those things.

We approached Will Rogers High School, just as everyone was flocking in. I was once again comparing myself to everyone, and I looked painfully average compared to everyone else. "Bye, Carrie Anne," Noel said sweetly as she ran off to talk to her friends. Looking at them, I was probably the shortest girl in the sophomore class. Since she was with them, I was left on my own to look for my first class. I took a deep breath and walked inside.

For about fifteen minutes, I looked for my class. This was a big school; bigger than the other nine schools I'd been to since fourth grade. I had no idea what to do, and people were eying me strangely. I went up to this girl who looked about my age with long black hair in a ponytail. "Excuse me." She turned to me. "Um…do you know where Mrs. Schafer's class is? I'm new and I don't really know where I'm supposed to be."

She smiled. "Yes, I'm headed there right now. I'm Dawn Astley." She was short too! Yay, I'm no longer alone!

"I'm Carrie Anne West." I replied as I followed her down the hall. She stopped at a door that said ENGLISH and we went inside. The teacher, a very young-looking red haired woman was sitting at her desk with a notebook and occasionally looking up at an attendance sheet next to her. She looked up and saw us come in.

"Take a seat anywhere, girls, finishing up the seating chart. I'm not marking you tardy today, but don't be late next time!" she warned. One empty seat was at the back of the room and one at the front next to Noel. She caught my eye and waved me over to her, and I sat down.

"What took you so long?" she demanded.

"I didn't know where I was supposed to go." I answered simply. Noel did her signature eye roll and huffed, and then she turned away. Gee, what a sourpuss. From the back of the room, Dawn gave me a questioning look, and I mouthed, "Later."

The teacher came up to the front of the room and announced, "SEATING CHART TIME ADOLECENTS!" in a loud and overly cheerful voice. The class groaned and everyone got out of their seat, collected their things and stood at the back of the room. Dawn sat on top of a table and took out her ponytail to fix it.

"You know, this WILL take a while," she told me.

Ms. Schafer often found familiar names of kids (saying she went to school with their brothers and sisters, uncles, cousins, whatever) and it took about fifteen minutes for her to get to the middle row. Any other day I would have said that was ridiculous, but I didn't feel like learning today and same with everyone else, so I didn't care. Then, she saw Dawn. "You are an Astley, I had Darla…Dawn, right?" Dawn nodded. "Do tell me, how is your sister?"

"Fine," Dawn replied plainly. Ms. Schafer shook her head at the simplicity of the reply and pointed at a seat in the middle row. "Bye," she whispered. I waved and gave her a sympathetic look as she had to go sit in between Noel and one of Noel's friends.

When Ms. Schafer got to the final row in the very back she looked at me. "You. You're the new girl." She began. Everyone except Noel and Dawn turned to look at me. I didn't want any attention drawn to me. "Carrie Anne West, here on the end, next to Johnny." I went to the seat she pointed at, and I was sitting next to a boy with greasy black hair and his head down, not looking at anyone. He was probably shy. Well, I'm the kind of person that makes a shy person…un-shy.

"Hi!" I greeted.

He finally looked up at me. His large troubled eyes matched his hair, and he looked…I don't know. A lot of people would say he looked tough, but he looked different than the other boys. They were all snickering, pointing at him and laughing. Why? I didn't know…he didn't seem too different from them except he wasn't talking to anyone and avoiding their eyes. There was something about him that made him unreadable, he made you wonder.

"Hi," he replied softly.

I was happy enough with that reply, and noticed we only had about fifteen minutes left in the class. Why do seating charts take forever?

At lunch, I sat at a table with Dawn. Just Dawn, because as "the new kid" I was avoided. That was what usually happened, I was used to it and I didn't feel bad. "Hey Dawn?" I asked her before I took a sip of my juice.

"Yeah?"

"You know that boy I sit next to in English, right?"

She nodded. "Yup, that's Johnny Cade." She pointed over to a table across the cafeteria. "He's over there with his buddies." I looked at the table. Sitting across from him was the boy who had nearly run over Noel this morning. I smiled at the memory.

"Who's the boy with the reddish hair?" I inquired, wanting to know who this boy was. I noticed all these boys looked the same. Well…they were all dressed in the like(leather jackets, jeans, jean jackets, T-shirts)while most of the other boys were dressed in more expensive-looking clothing. I would find out why that was later.

"Oh, that's Two-Bit Mathews. That's their gang of friends over there. There's Ponyboy Curtis, Steve Randle, Two-Bit, and of course Johnny. Johnny's Ponyboy's best friend, but they're all really good friends. Three are missing. One of Ponyboy's brothers dropped out, one's out of school, and then there's Dallas Winston…" She didn't go into detail about him, she just sort of shivered. Those were interesting names. Ponyboy…Two-Bit…wow. "Yeah, they're greasers."

"Okay, what is a greaser?" I demanded. Everyone had been talking about them and S-O-A-S-H-E-S…I didn't know what that word was or how to spell it.

Dawn smacked her forehead. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you're new here, you don't know. Greasers are the lower-class. People say they're pretty wild, but I don't think so. I've had a couple in my classes before, they seem alright. Especially Sodapop Curtis." She stopped for a minute, a big grin on her face, staring into space. "Now HE was a doll. That boy looks like a movie star, all the girls LOVE him. One of Ponyboy's older brothers, he works at the DX station down on the East Side. But it's the Socs you've got to worry about."

"How do you spell that?" I asked out of random. Was it short for something, or just a made up word?  
"S-0-C-S. Short for Socials," she replied as if she could read my mind. "A Soc is in the upper class. Most people are either a Soc or a greaser. I hate the Socs. They're really mean. Noel's one of them."

Was this the sort of caste system at their school? We were going to be arranged by class? "I'm…middle class. What would I be?" I asked.

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. I guess either one if you wanted to be. I'm not anything."

"Do you know them well?"

"Not well, I just sort of know them. My parents were friends with Ponyboy's parents; I met them a few times. They seem pretty nice." Then she looked at me. "Why'd you ask about Johnny? Do you like him or something, Carrie Anne?"

"No! I mean…I was just wondering." I defended myself. But throughout lunch, I kept looking over at him. I remembered what his eyes looked like. Full of pain, and nervousness, and…fear? I didn't know. They still had that look when he was with his friends, and he _never smiled._ Not even once, his face always had that serious look. And it was boiling out and he was wearing jeans and a jean jacket. His buddies were wearing jeans and T-shirts. Wasn't he hot? I had no idea. But that Johnny Cade sure did make me wonder.

But I guess he didn't make me wonder too long, because by the time I got home, I forgot all about him. My mom was hustling all over the house. "Carrie Anne, I've got to go work at the hospital. Charlene is at Noel's, with her little sister. How was your day?." She told me in between breaths as she hunted for things. She didn't even give me a chance to answer when she said, "Darling, have you seen my shoes?" I was about to say no when she suddenly proclaimed, "Never mind, found them!" Then she grabbed her purse and headed out the door, calling over her shoulder "Goodbye Carrie Anne, I love you!" The door slammed and I was left in the kitchen, very confused.

**Okay, I know for a first chap, that sucked. But once I get more into the story, it'll get better. Promise. Okay? Review with ideas! Flames are…um…I hate them. They can only be a flame if they have something I can work on because otherwise they just annoy me and I'll have to cry myself to sleep with Tokio Hotel playing in the background…I won't update till I have a few reviews. Stay Gold, and Spring Nicht off the Eiffel Tower!**


	2. Numb

Hey again

**Hey again!. Let me just say, I am rejoicing that I only got ONE flame and more reviews than I expected! Thank you everyone who reviewed!! I had insane writer's block since I wrote the first chappie and I hope this one is a little better!:**

**annamara- I am sorry that I disappointed you.**

**TheNightimeSky-Thank you! I was so afraid of people thinking she was a Mary-Sue. And I didn't want her to appear that way, because I wanted her to appear sort of…I don't know how to describe it. Oblivious in a way, like, why are the cliques arranged like greasers and Socs? I know I make no sense. As of right now, I am still going through the options in my head about how he's going to fall for her, but I will think of something! Thank you for reviewing!**

**ExtremeWriter-I love Johnny-centered fics too, which is why I decided to write one! OH MY GOSH! I used to love the Baby-sitter's Club! I never even thought of that, I was listening to the song, Dawn by the Four Seasons(great song, I love the oldies :D) and so I was like, another 60's name.(In order to determine all of the main characters' names, I do lists of names. This one was 60's centered mainly, because I don't really know if people had their kids named Ashley or Brittany or something like that in the 60's)and Ms. Schafer's name was because I was thinking about one of my teachers who's very young and teen-ish, but I got her last name from the drummer of my favorite band. SO, I basically borrowed Gustav Schafer's name. Thank you. LOL, YES you are supposed to hate Noel! She was influenced by the many Socy girls in my school and also my Socy cousin, who's favorite character was Bob(I don't know why she thinks drunk Socs are sexy…). Yes, the night after I read the Outsiders, I made my own in-depth descriptions of each character, and I used a teeny bit of it for Johnny's description. I am the kind of person who needs to have a little group to hang out with to feel secure, and I made Carrie that way too. I kind of wanted to make her nothing, but I…don't know. It was just the way I decided to do it. OH MY GOSH I AM SO STUPID! Thank you for helping the slow Jenna with her documents :D You have NO idea how much I appreciate it!**

**theultimateoutsider-Really? I've lived in the same place my whole life and this fic came to me in a dream…it was so weird…it's okay, I like long reviews. It's so ironic, that this exact thing happened to you and I wrote a fan fiction about it! Thank you for telling me this, and I would be so grateful if you told me how it was! I want it to seem realistic, and if you could tell me some things that would be awesome!! **

**DWAMFW-thank you for the suggestions, I really appreciate it :D I'm kind of new to writing, and I don't know a lot of things…LOL. Oh my gosh, I totally forgot that they never ate in the cafeteria!smacks foreheadSometime, I'll get to re-doing that part. You just gave me help for this chapter! Thank you!gives plate of cookieslol I tend to do that. But I am really grateful for what you have to tell me, so thank you for reviewing!**

**I DO NOT OWN THE OUTSIDERS OR THE SONG NUMB BY LINKIN PARK! BTW MR. HAHN IS UBER GROOVY!**

_I'm tired of you being what you want me to be,_

_Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface_

_I don't know what you are expecting of me_

_Put the pressure of walking in your shoes_

_Every step that I take is another mistake to you_

_I've become so numb I can't feel you there_

_Become so tired so much more aware,_

_I'm becoming this all I want to do_

_Is be more like me and be less like you_

The next morning, I woke up, got dressed, and went off to school early. I felt pretty good today; I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the relief that I had a friend, which made me feel one hundred times better than yesterday. Up until I heard the pounding of sound of two people running in penny loafers on the sidewalk behind me.

"Carrie Anne! Why didn't you wait for me?" Noel's voice demanded. I turned to her and her eyes were narrowed in annoyance at me. I shrugged as I continued to walk down the sidewalk. "You know, you shouldn't be hanging out with Dawn. She's friends with the greasers." I continued to ignore her. "Like…she knows those _Curtis_ boys." The way she put the emphasis on Curtis really informed me on how she truly felt about them, and I knew that she was the very opposite of friends with them.

"I think Sodapop's cute, but the other two…" The brunette next to her started. She noticed my confused face, which wasn't at her. "Oh, I'm Eva Lockwood," she introduced quickly. Then she picked up right where she left off. "Don't really know them, don't want to."

I shook my head. What kind of person was she? I mean, she liked one because he was cute, she didn't even know the other two who were his own brothers, just because of where they stood on the social class system.

I ignored them in disgust the rest of the way to school. Once I got there, I met Dawn at my locker. "Hey, Dawn?" I asked as I grabbed my English notebook.

"Huh?"

I leaned against the locker next to mine looking down the hallway at the surrounding people. There were so many students here. The halls were so crowded, I was beginning to wonder if over time you could just eventually become claustrophobic, which was the way I felt already. I felt suffocated, by…what? I really don't know. But that's not what my question was about.

"Are there any nice Socs?"

"Yes…no…um. Not exactly," she finally decided on her answer. "There's two different kinds of Socs: The ones who are all-out mean all the time to everyone who isn't upper class. Then there's the kind who can be nice on occasion, like when they're not surrounded by their friends, but when they are they're also all out mean," she explained.

I thought for a moment, talking everything in. "I hate the second kind most."

Dawn was surprised. "What, you mean the ones who are both? Why?"

I sighed. "Because, they're nice to you while you're alone, but the way you treat you around their friends show that their cowards, because they won't show how they really feel." Then, without thinking, I added, "God hates a coward."

Dawn paused at the door for a minute, deep in thought. And then she smiled. "Gee, Carrie Anne. I never even thought of that!"

I went over to my seat. Johnny was already in his, completely silent, avoiding everybody's eyes. "Hi, Johnny!" I greeted cheerfully. He turned toward me, his eyes wide with surprised, not sure how to react.

"Um…hi…"

"How are you today?"

He paused. "Fine-"

"That's wonderful!" I cut him off. He looked very confused, then he stared at the floor. I think he was scared of me. Lost of people get scared of my unnatural happiness.

**skip to that afternoon**

"Hi, Carrie Anne! How was school?" My mother asked while reading the paper. _Well, she isn't in a hurry today. Maybe she'll actually give me time to answer her questions,_ I thought.

"Fine," I replied, going to get an apple. I looked at the clock, and back at my mother's position. What in the world was she doing? "Mom, you do realize your shift starts in fifteen minutes, don't you?"

"Oh, you mean my old shift!" My mom chuckled. "I almost forgot to tell you, didn't I? They changed it, starting tonight, I work the night shift, so I have more time to spend with you guys. Midnight to 7 am." She walked past me, looking for something to make for dinner that night. "Would you mind going to the store and getting me some milk?" I nodded, and she handed me two dollars. "Oh, the nearest store is over on the East Side! It's not too far of a walk…oh, wait! CARRIE ANNE! COME BACK!"

I sighed. "I forgot to tell you what street it was on. It's on Walker Street, I'm sure you can find it from there," she told me. I am so stupid. I would have either come back to my house or wandered aimlessly around the East Side. I nodded and went back out the door. I wondered if it was just money that was the reason why the Socs hated the greasers so much. I didn't really know them, so I of course had no idea.

I was walking and then a blonde boy walked past me. He looked…scary. He was very tall with hair so blonde it was almost white, and blue eyes that were like ice. He turned around once he'd taken a few steps and glanced back at me. "Hey, sexy!"

"Go fall in a hole!" I yelled after him as he ran off, cackling. I rolled my eyes and went into the grocery store.

After dinner that night, there was a sharp rap on the door. A pause, then I heard, "Carrie Anne, it's for you!" It was Noel. While my mom pretended to clean, she came in to talk to me.

"My brother's friend is having a bonfire tonight. Wanna come?"

"Of course!" My eavesdropping mother answered for me. "Go on, honey, have fun! Come home by eleven though." She practically PUSHED me out the door!

My mom is trying really hard to be the "cool mom." She ain't fooling nobody. I really wish she wouldn't. She's trying to cover up the fact that it's no big secret that she and my dad get in huge screaming fights every night, so she's trying to get me out of the house so I don't have to listen to it.

Noel's brother drove us, and once we were there, I had no idea what to do. Everywhere, there were people talking, drinking, and getting very close to "doing it." Noel dragged me over to her large circle of friends. After they were done criticizing what I was wearing, they were trying to change my way of thinking.

"You know, you really shouldn't hang out with Dawn Astley," a blonde girl warned me. "No one likes her. Did you see what she wore today?" She and the rest of the girls began to giggle.

"Caaaaaaan I getcha a drink?" a boy slurred, stumbling up to me. He was totally wasted. I shook my head, trying to ignore him, but he wrapped an arm around me. My eyes widened with shock and anger, and from some sudden strength inside me I pushed him away. He blinked, but then went off to find some other girl.

"Hey! Some of the guys are gonna go over to the East Side and jump some greasers! Come on, Carrie Anne, this'll be fun!" Noel urged, her and a friend dragging me toward her brother's car.

"There's one! GET HIM, JACK!" One of Noel's friends shrieked, pointing off into the distance. Out of nowhere, three guys were beating up this boy, who I recognized as Johnny's friend, Ponyboy. He kept trying to get to another house a little way's away, but then the Socs would jump on him again. This was too terrible to watch. All the girls were laughing and cheering, but this was sick. I felt so sorry for Ponyboy, but I couldn't do anything to help him except find someone to make it stop. So I assumed the house he was trying to get to was his and I ran over there.

I heard muffled conversations coming in through the door, and four boys were hanging out in the living room through the window, and they stopped talking once I'd knocked.

A very tall boy-or should I say_ man_-answered the door with dark brown hair and frozen eyes. "Hi, does Ponyboy Curtis live here?" I asked breathlessly.

"Yes, why?" He started, then he looked out over my head. "OH MY GOSH! You guys, get out here!" A sweet-looking boy with wheat colored hair appeared, and behind him a boy with blonde hair came out. Then, Johnny came out.

"Carrie Anne…"

They all took off running, with me trying to keep up at their heels. "Yes…that's what I was going to tell you!" I yelled.

In a matter of minutes, all the Soc boys were back in their car with Noel and her friends, taking off. I stood alone, not knowing what to do. I didn't have a ride back home, and I couldn't walk that far. "It was her, Darry. The girl. She helped Ponyboy."

"A Soc? I doublt it. She wouldn't move four inches to help a greaser."

"Shut up, Dal. Hey! Hey, girl!" From the trait of eavesdropping I guess I'd picked up from my mother, I knew they were talking about me, so I glanced up. "Come here." The boy with wheat-colored hair who looked a little like Ponyboy was supporting him. "What's your name? Do you know her, guys?" He asked, directing the second part of the question to his friends and brother.

"Carrie Anne West," I replied.

"Johnny d-does," Ponyboy stammered. He looked scared out of his mind. Poor kid.

Everyone either looked at me or Johnny. "Well, Carrie Anne West, I'd like to think you for saving my kid brother," the boy said. I nodded.

"You're welcome, um…um…"

The boy smacked his forehead. "Oh, I forgot! I'm Sodapop, the blonde over there is Dallas, this is Ponyboy, that one's my big brother Darry, and I 'spect you already know Johnny," he introduced.

I nodded. "Are you okay?" I asked Ponyboy. He didn't answer. He was shaking violently, still clinging onto Sodapop for dear life.

"Do you know them?" Dallas asked coldly, referring to the Socs. His words were hard and biting; as if he hated me. He didn't even know me! Then, I recognized him as the boy who called me sexy when I went to the grocery store. But me telling him to go fall in a hole wouldn't be an excuse for him to hate me…

"Sort of. But I hate them," I replied in a voice just as cold.

"How can you hate your own kind?" he shot back. "Kid's lying. One of those guys is probably her boyfriend, or brother, something." He got up in my face. "You probably told them to jump him." I shook my head and started to protest, but the scary guy said, "You're a Soc, and a liar aren't you? Maybe I should jump _you_, I got no problem with jumping Socs!"

"Dally!" I heard Sodapop yell. Everyone's attention was on him. "Leave her alone, if she says she ain't a Soc, then she ain't a Soc." The boy looked at me in confusion as I backed away.

"I-I'm sorry. Okay? I'll just walk home, and we'll pretend it didn't happen." I said quickly. "I hope you feel better, Ponyboy. I'm sorry they jumped you. I didn't want them to…that's why I ran to your house."

"Hey! Carrie Anne, wait!" Johnny called. I turned, and he was staring at the ground, not knowing what to say next. Then, he looked up at me. "Thanks. See you at school."

"Are you sure you don't need a ride?" the one who Sodapop introduced as Darry asked. I shrugged. It was a long way back. "I'll be home in a bit guys. Carrie Anne, I'll take you home. Come here." I followed him to a rusty old truck and got in next to him, a little anxious. He looked at me and gave a hollow laugh.

"You ain't scared of me, are you?" I shook my head. "I would understand if you were scared of Dallas, but not me. People just…don't understand me, you know?" _No, I don't know. What I don't understand is what you're saying,_ I thought. "I don't want to be mean, but I just get so…angry! I don't want to lose any more people, Carrie Anne! I couldn't take it!" _Either this guy is just insane, or he doesn't understand that I don't know what he's talking about. But I feel sorry for him._

"Here's my house," I finally said. He parked and I got out. "Thanks for the ride, Darry. Bye." I got out and walked into my house, still wondering about what Darry was talking about.

**Okay, so I know that Darry may have seemed a little out of character there, but all of the guys are characters that make you wonder, they're so different and complex. I want to show how I think they truly feel in this fic. Review, I like long ones but I'd be happy with any! I got my Tokio Hotel CD back from my friend who borrowed it so if there are any flames I will listen to Monsoon over and over and over and over again.**


	3. Rescue Me

TheNightimeSky

**Hey People! BEFORE I FORGET, IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR THIS STORY THAT YOU THINK I MIGHT LIKE OR JUST FEEL LIKE TALKING TO ME, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT ****. I know it's a little early to start updating, but I'm trying out for Honors Choir tomorrow and am very nervous, so I wanted to upload this right away :D I am uber happy with my reviews. I am so thankful for them, they're really helping me. And now, I will answer my groovy reviews…but first I have something to say… this story takes place a year before the Outsiders. Thus, Darry is 19, Soda is 15, Johnny is 15, Pony is 13, Steve is 16 and Dally is too, and Two-Bit is 17. And I know that in the book the Curtis parents died about eight months before, but I'm going to make this about a month after their parents died.**

**NOW, I will get to answer my groovy reviews.**

**ExtremeWriter-Haha, I'm glad I had Dallas in character :D I know many, MANY people like Noel, and one of them I purposely provoked in school when I wrote this chapter, just so I could know more of that brattiness :D Thank you, I wasn't sure what to do then so I just did the skip to the afternoon thing, now I know what to do. I know, it was just a thing…I didn't really know how to end it, and plus, Darry is the one that…he's hard for me to write about, how he acts I mean. Oh, and thank you, I love 60's names and I had a weird urge for Carrie Anne's name to actually be Sherry or something normal like that, but then I was like…no…LOL. Really? Thank you so much!**

**whatcoloristhesky-Thank you! By the way, I love your username!**

**Shannon-Thank you! I know, I hated having Ponyboy get jumped…I thought of it while I was really bored at a thing with my friend, and just kind of went from there…and it's killing me, I wish I could update every few days but I always have writer's block ******

**TheNightimeSky-People consider Carrie Anne a Soc because she lives on the West Side of town and she dresses a little bit like one, but she is really just at middle class. So she doesn't really know where she fits in. Yes, at that part, it was actually something that I did! I was at camp and I went up to this boy who was really shy and quiet (he was basically a Johnny, lol)and then I was like "Hi Nathan! How are you?" and he stared at me for a second and then he was like "Fine-" and I interrupted him and I was like "THAT'S WONDERFUL!" and then he just stared at me…lol it was fun. Yeah, and it would be really unrealistic if Carrie Anne just got in the middle of everything. YES! I'm so glad you caught that, I wasn't sure if anyone would! Oh, that's okay, I love long reviews! Thank you so much, I'm glad you had a lot to say about it!**

**theultimateoutsider-I did? Really? That's awesome! I was trying to put myself in Carrie Anne's shoes, and I was afraid people would think it was cheesy or something :D Your cousin sounds a lot like how I want to make Noel, LOL. Yeah, a couple of weeks ago I had this dream about me moving to Tulsa and…it basically is the storyline. I didn't remember it til I was on FanFiction one night and I was like Hmmmm…I wanna write another fan fiction. I'm glad I made it realistic. Oh and BTW I'm writing my reply to this review about two minutes before I'm going to upload this chapter, but I saw your review and I just HAD to check because I was afraid someone gave me another flame, but I was very happy to see it was you. Thank you so much for the long review and telling me what you thought of it, it really means a lot to me!**

**On with the story! DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE OUTSIDERS, OR THE SONG RESCUE ME BY HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS (amazing song and awesome video, look it up on YouTube)**

_Just breathe_

_The midnight air will do you well_

_Believe_

_I miss your taste I miss your smell_

_The past mistakes that brought you here_

_I'll break the fall for you, my dear_

_I'll ask the nurse for bandages_

_Send me on my way_

_Rescue me from everything_

_I just wanna live_

_I wish I could breathe_

The next morning, I woke up late and I walked to school alone. After last night, I didn't want to have anything to do with Noel, her friends, or anyone of the Socs. I was left alone with my thoughts that were running through my head about those Socs. What kind of sick people would cheer on a jumping, anyway? Or even jump a random person, just because of where he stood on the class system? Or even jump anyone at all? So I just trudged down the sidewalk, taking my time, sure that since I stopped what they were doing last night, Noel wouldn't want to walk with me anyway, and that was the one thing I was happy about.

When I was about ten minutes from the school, I heard running feet behind me and panting. They were heavier footsteps than Noel or her friends, so I knew that it wasn't any of her friends, but I wasn't sure if it could be one of the Soc boys. But they always drove to school in their stupid fancy cars; they had no reason to walk. I turned, and it was Ponyboy. "Hey, Ponyboy!" I greeted, as he ran past me, apparently in a hurry to get to school, but then he tripped and fell, his books scattering everywhere. I smiled softly, he was so much like me. "Here…" I helped him pick up the fallen books and helped him up, his cheeks beet-red.

"Hi," he replied softly, avoiding my eyes. "Um…thanks." Considering the faint purple bags under his eyes that were still visible, his auburn hair was more than just a little tousled, and he looked exhausted, I knew that he probably didn't have a lot of sleep from the night before, like I did.

"How are you doing?" I asked, walking next to him. He did have a really big bruise over one eye, his shoulders were hunched and his eyes followed the ground, but other than those things, he seemed a lot better than he did when I last saw him.

He yawned before he answered. "I'm good. You?"

"Fine," I answered, not wanting to press on. We walked in an awkward silence, because we barely knew each other and there wasn't a whole lot we could talk about. He was very quiet from my observations; nowhere near as quiet as Johnny, but he was very shy. He didn't look that old; I guessed he was maybe about thirteen or so. Although I couldn't imagine a thirteen year old boy smart enough to be in high school. Who knows? Maybe Ponyboy was different.

We walked up to the school, and the Socs who had been at the party last night and knew what I had done during the jumping glared at me, burning holes through me with their eyes. While it was extremely uncomfortable, I tried my best to ignore them and put on my brave face. "You know, you probably shouldn't be walking with me," Ponyboy told me uneasily.

I turned and looked at him. "And why not?" There was nothing wrong with him. He didn't seem mean.

"Because…" he trailed off as we walked inside. "They'll treat you same as they treat us." He finally made eye contact with me and saw my confused face, and then before I could ask what on earth he meant, he had already disappeared down the hallway. I was in wonder of what he was talking about, and then I headed over to my class. I didn't want to be late. But I couldn't help thinking that everything those Curtis boys said somehow confused me. Either I was plumb dumb or there was just something I was missing, like a piece to a puzzle.

"Morning, Johnny," I greeted, sitting down next to him, grinning. He nodded at me. I sat there for a minute, but then I grew impatient. I wanted to know this. "Johnny?" I asked, getting his attention. He glanced up at me, showing that he was listening. "I wanna know something, how come you don't talk?"

He looked at me and his cheeks turned a faint shade of red. "Um…I don't know…" he muttered. I shrugged. "How come you talk?" he questioned.

I wasn't expecting that, but I was very good at improvising. "I don't know. It's just because I feel that talking and saying hi to people might make their day better. But sometimes I make it worse, by accident. I really don't mean to, I guess it's just what happens. I really hate it when it does, because I just can't stand it when someone's not happy. Am I making your day worse?" I rambled cheerfully. But I really had never thought about why I talked to people and acted so cheerful all the time.

He looked taken aback at the last part. "No, you're making it better, Carrie Anne," he assured me, his voice in it's same soft, raspy-ness. I felt good with the thought that I was making his day better. There was just something about him…it looked like he was so sad, so miserable. I had never seen him smile. But I assumed since Johnny was really cute, that his smile would be nice.

I liked Johnny a whole lot. I don't know why, but there was just something that drew me to him.

**--**

That afternoon, I walked home with Dawn. She only lived about five minutes away from me. "Hey, I have to stop at the DX station. I lost a bet with my older brother so I have to buy him a Pepsi," she informed me, rolling her eyes. "You don't mind, do you?"

"No, not at all," I replied. Anything that would delay me from hearing the yelling of my house would be good enough for me. We walked in, and she disappeared to the back of the room before I could say 'forgotten'. So I just randomly stood in the middle of the station, but then I looked up at the counter. And standing there was Sodapop Curtis.

"Hey, Carrie Anne!" he said, grinning at me like some kind of movie star. Now I understood what all those girls, Socs and greasers alike, said that Sodapop Curtis was hot. "How're you doing today?"

I strolled right over to that counter, smiling. Sodapop made me feel just really happy all of the sudden. He had a really good vibe, it was so natural. I wasn't nervous around him like I was around a lot of guys, which is how I make a fool of myself. "Alright, how about you?"

"Pretty good."

"Saw your brother on my way to school today. I talked to him for a little while." I informed him. I looked at him, comparing him to the mental image of Ponyboy in my mind. They seemed alike on the outside, but I really don't know how. Their looks were opposite; yet they were the same. It was probably just a brother thing. Charlene and I looked exactly alike, despite our nine year age difference, but on the inside, we were nothing alike. But that didn't really have anything to do with Sodapop and Ponyboy.

He smiled sadly in remembrance. "Poor kid was scared out of his mind last night. It took forever to get him to sleep. Scared they were gonna come back… Good thing you came before he was hurt really bad." I nodded.

"Carrie Anne? Carrie Anne, where are you?" I heard Dawn's voice call. "Oh, there you are! Hi, Soda." She said as she came and put the Pepsi on the counter.

"Hey, Dawn. That'll be twenty-five cents** (A/N…I have no idea what prices for soda were back then. Since it was only a quarter to get into a movie, I assumed it was pretty cheap but I didn't want it to seem like a bottle of soda was five cents)**," he answered. She tossed a quarter down, but it rolled off the counter and when he bent down to get it, we heard a soft _thud _ and under my hand, the counter shook just a bit_._ "Ow!" He appeared again, rubbing the back of his head and blushing a little.

We all laughed for a minute, and then we went out. "Bye, Soda!" I called over my shoulder.

"Bye!"

**--**

After dinner that night, my dad sat me down in the living room. "Carrie Anne, I have to talk to you about something very important," he told me. I nodded, telling him to go on. "Today, Mr. Herbert asked me about you. He said you…" he paused, looking up at the ceiling. I looked up there too but I didn't see anything. "When you were at the bonfire last night, you were…_threatening _his children."

I stared at him. _"Threatening them?" _ I was trying to think of anything of anything I had done to Noel or Nate that would be considered as threatening them. I couldn't come up with anything.

"Yes. You were mad because Noel liked the same boy as you, so you threatened to push her in the bonfire, then Nate had to take you home. Noel explained it quite thoroughly to her father; it seemed she was very scared."

I held back laughter. Only someone as stupid as Noel could try to make people think that I would actually push her in a fire. She was apparently trying to get back at me, and she was terrible at it. That was the worst lie/revenge I had ever heard of. I don't even like the boy Noel likes! He's an ugly Soc, but I wasn't going to tell my dad that. I didn't want to tell him about what had happened last night either, same reason why I didn't tell Dawn earlier.

"Oh, it was a joke, Dad." I lied, keeping my voice light.

"Well, Noel didn't seem to think of it as a joke." He told me sternly.

"It was, I'm serious. I will apologize to her later, okay?" I asked, still holding back laughter. He nodded seriously, and then I went up to my room.

At about eight or so that night, I was up on the second floor of our house where my room was, listening to a Four Seasons song on the radio. I remembered singing it when I was about eleven all the time. I was also reading a book my English teacher had recommended; she had let me borrow her copy of the play As you like It, by William Shakespeare. Then, I heard a soft knock on my door. I set my book down and I went to open it. It was my little sister, Charlene. Her large green eyes that were identical to mine were wide with fear and sadness, and she was holding a little pillow, her tiny china doll, and a pink blanket my mother had made for her when she was born.

"What is it, Char?" I asked her, closing the door behind her. My little sister never looked like this; I didn't know many six year olds who ever looked sad unless their…I don't know, toy was broken or something. She climbed up on my bed across from me.

"Mommy and Daddy are fighting again." She told me, her voice shaking.

"Oh, Char…" I started, and I hugged her as she cried into my shoulder. Charlene's room was on the bottom floor, and she could hear everything because my parents were in the room next to her. My room and the floor between blocked out the noise that I was oblivious to. She hated it just as much as I did, and she was just so young. In the daytime, my parents tried to get along, and when they couldn't they just ignored each other. But at night, they were swearing at each other at the top of their lungs. Sometimes I wished they would just split up, it would be better than listening to it night after night. "You can stay the night in here tonight." I whispered into her long brown hair.

About ten minutes later, I was back to what I had been previously doing. Now, My Boyfriend's Back by the Angels was on and Charlene was singing it, her tears still barely visible on her small, pale face. But that wasn't the point. She was happy again, and she had forgotten all about the fighting going on downstairs. As I turned the page I would look up at her and she would grin at me.

"Carrie Anne?" she asked me when the song was all done.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" She asked, playing with her doll's curly black hair.

"No, Charlene. I don't have a boyfriend." I smiled; when I said the word 'boyfriend,' it made me think of how I liked Johnny.

She paused for a second. "I do." She was continuing to play with the doll's hair.

I put my book down and stared at her, attempting to stifle a laugh. "Um…do you?" I asked her, wanting to know where this was going to go.

"Yes. His name is Frankie. He gave me a cookie at lunchtime today, and he's my boyfriend." She explained knowingly, as serious as she could say. As if I knew that in first grade world, a boy giving a girl a cookie meant that they were boyfriend/girlfriend. "'Cept that Rhonda's gonna steal him from me. She said that Frankie's hers. Since _kindergarten._"

At that I did laugh. First graders stole boyfriends from each other? They even had boyfriends at that age? The world of innocence was spiraling downward. "Carrie Anne? Why are you laughing at me?" She asked, her eyes narrowed.

"No reason," I told her. She shook her head. I looked at the clock, it was almost nine. "What time does Mom want you to get to bed?" She shrugged. "Okay, well at nine we're all going to bed, okay?" I had to be the mom for right now, for my baby sister.

Her eyes went wide. "Even you?" I nodded. Then she looked down at her doll. "Even Linda?" I nodded again, smiling. She sighed. "Oooo-kayyy."

At nine, I was forced to put my book down. I really liked it; it reminded me of the time I saw Joan of Arc and read the book. "Time for bed, Charlene." She put her pillow on the other end of the bed and got under the blanket, hugging her doll to her chest. "Goodnight." I left the window open a crack and the blinds open, because I knew Char didn't like the dark. I turned off the light.

Just before I drifted off to sleep, I heard a tiny voice say, "Carrie Anne?" I turned over and when "Hmmmmmm" because I was too tired to reply and to show I was listening. "I love you." I smiled into my pillow.

"I love you too, Char."

**Okay, so now you have a bit of an idea of how it's like at Carrie Anne's house. It may not sound too bad now, it will get worse. But it's not as bad as poor Johnnycake ******** Review!**


	4. Viva la Vida

I used to rule the world

**Hey, people! I am once again very pleased with my reviews. This chapter was originally going to be extremely different than it turned out, but I needed to get something worked out because I am very busy with Honors Choir. Now I shall answer my reviews!**

**ExtremeWriter-Thank you for your consistent reviewing! Well, I wasn't exactly hinting that I was going into Johnny's home life, I was thinking about it, but I just wrote this chapter today because I decided I didn't like the original one. But I might, you just gave me an idea. Thank you :D Oh, and I was wondering about the author's notes. I swear I'm like OCD or something(not Obsessive Cullen Disorder, my best friend is a Twilighter and everytime someone mentions OCD she says "ME TOO!" and she thinks they mean that) because I always have to have everything right. LOL.**

** tear-drowned-angel-Gee, thanks :D Thank you for reviewing!**

** theultimateoutsider-Thank you. I've never had a little sister, I got influence from my friend's, she's about six, so I spent time at their house and just like…studied the way she was. It was rather fun, LOL. Yes, I will eventually get to the "romance" of Carrie Anne and Johnny, but I don't want things to move too fast. But sometime in the next few chapters, I will eventually get to that. I really wanted to do it in this chapter and I thought about it all day at school and finally I was like…no. But my Microsoft Word is being really mean to me right now, or else I'd edit this whole thing and put something along those lines into it :D Thank you for reviewing!**

**Okay, now here is theliterally goes back to Fan Fiction to see what chapter I posted lastOH! This is chapter 4, already. I can't believe it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE OUTSIDERS OR THE REALLY CATCHY SONG VIVA LA VIDA BY COLDPLAY THAT IS ENCLOSED IN THIS DOCUMENT(haha, that's a cool word…)AND I AM SORRY THAT I MAY BE A.D.D.**

**_I used to rule the world_**

**_Seas would rise when I gave the word_**

**_Now in the morning I sleep alone_**

**_Sweep the streets I used to own_**

**_I used to roll the dice_**

**_Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes_**

**_Listen as the crowd would sing:_**

**"_Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"_**

**_One minute I held the key_**

**_Next the walls were closed on me_**

**_And I discovered that my castles stand_**

**_Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand._**

**_I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing_**

**_Roman Cavalry choirs are singing_**

**_Be my mirror my sword and shield_**

**_My missionaries in a foreign field_**

**_For some reason I can't explain_**

**_Once you know there was never, never an honest word_**

**_That was when I ruled the world_**

Okay. I seriously needed to get out of the house. The fighting wasn't going on yet, it was still early in the evening, only about five o' clock; I just couldn't be shut up in there with nothing to do. I'm like that; I always have to be doing something. I started to take a walk. I didn't know where I was planning on going, but I was sure I'd find my way back. Tulsa wasn't that complex of a place, even for me.

On the day of my walk, it had been about a week since I'd started going to school here in Tulsa. I still felt a little bit like an outsider, but I felt better than I had the first day I came, trying to tear away from Noel.

After I was getting a little closer to the East Side, I realized that a red Corvair was tailing me. I had no idea who was driving it, but the sinking feeling in my stomach told me it wasn't anyone who I'd be happy to see. I heard it stop and a door slam twice and I began to quicken my pace a little bit, just out of instinct. But it was too late, I realized as I was trying to run faster. Someone much larger than me grabbed me from behind and I fell to the ground.

A large blonde Soc boy sat down on my stomach and grabbed my wrists, pinning me down. Another covered my mouth with his hand. I would have bitten it, but I wasn't going to bite some sick Soc boy's hand. Another just swayed on his feet above me. The smell of their breath told me that they were already drunk. I couldn't get up; I couldn't scream. I couldn't do _anything_. I was trapped. "It's the little wannabe-greaser," the one on top of me sneered. "I don't know why she'd want to be one of those, though. She was at the party when we jumped that kid, remember? She stopped the whole shebang." Well, I did recognize them. Three of Nate's annoying friends and the one on top of me was the guy that Noel had a crush on, that she told my dad I had a crush on. I didn't have a crush on him at all; I have no respect for anyone who jumps girls or people in general without a really important reason.

One started slugging me in the face, and things began to get a little hazy. I saw little stars dancing around the boy on top of me, then I tried to shake my head so they would go away. They laughed at me in my struggle. I felt so helpless; I couldn't do anything to get away. I was terrified. The one who was holding me down crashed his lips onto mine and they were forcing me to kiss him back, but I couldn't. I was trying so hard to get away, but these three Socs were way bigger and older than I was. I was crying in spite of myself, and I heard the laughter of the other two when I heard a yell and the three Socs started running.

I didn't know what happened or what made them run, but I personally didn't care. I just knew the one pervert wasn't on top of me and I was shaking. I curled myself into a ball on the sidewalk, sobbing. I hadn't cried in years, or at least this much. It hadn't been too much that happened to me; I mean, I wasn't dead or hurt really bad or anything like that, but they'd scared me to death. I heard footsteps coming next to me. I jumped, what if they had come back? I slowly turned around as I looked up into the hard, cold eyes of Dallas Winston. "Guess I was wrong, Socs don't jump their own kind. Let alone a girl." He grabbed my arm. "Get up, kid. You're a mess."  
He pulled me to my feet and dragged me along. He stared straight ahead, acting like I wasn't even there, not making a sound. He just clung to my arm and pulled me to wherever he was taking me. I was scared I'd get jumped again, so I didn't really care where he was taking me; I just wanted to be away. Glory, those guys could have…

Dallas came up to a place I recognized as the Curtis house. He just walked right in and yelled, "DARRY!"

Darry was sitting in a big chair, reading the paper. When he put it down to look up to see why Dallas was screaming, his blue-green eyes locked with mine and his tired, stressed face added another emotion to the combination: confusion. Confusion of why some fifteen year old girl who he barely knew was now crying her eyes out in his living room. "Carrie Anne? What's wrong?" A fresh flood of tears cascaded down my cheeks, and I hid my face from everyone in the room. I felt ashamed to be crying in front of all these boys, most of them older than me, over a little thing like some guys pinning me down, even though it really wasn't a little thing. I felt a large hand on my shoulder, directing me to sit on a couch. I was handed a tissue. Someone's arm awkwardly was draped around my shoulders and through my tears I saw it belonged to Johnny Cade.

"Dal, what happened to her?" Darry questioned seriously, turning to the blonde boy. He was kneeling next to me with a bag full of ice, pushing it against my cheek. It hurt.

Before Dallas even said anything, I shivered and made a small noise in my throat. I began to cry a little harder, I knew I was going into hysterics. Darry put the ice pack down so he could look at Dallas. Johnny pulled me into an embrace, and I cried into his shoulder. "J-Johnny, it was horrible. They-they…" I couldn't go on, I didn't want to tell him or relive the experience myself.

"Shhh," he whispered into my ear, his lips almost brushing my ear, making me shiver. "You're okay now, it's alright." He pushed my hair back and continued whispering, trying to distract me.

I heard only distantly Dallas explaining to Darry and the other boys what happened, but for the next few minutes, my world was Johnny's soft whispers in my ear and him rubbing my back. We pulled away as my crying died down, and I gave him a tiny smile, and when I did, he turned beet-red. I was sort of embarrassed that I was crying like a little baby over a jumping crying into the shoulder of a boy that I barely knew, and when Ponyboy got jumped, he didn't cry at all. Sure, he was scared like I was but he only shook and he couldn't help that. I guess boys and girls are different that way. Boys have feelings too, they just have sort of a different way of showing them.

Ponyboy disappeared into another room, and came back with a glass of water. He gave it to me and gave me an understanding look. I smiled gratefully at the younger boy. "Thanks, Ponyboy."

Soda, who was sitting in between the boy I knew only by name-Two-Bit-and another dark haired, solemn boy who I didn't know at all, gave me a sympathetic look, his brown eyes filled with…pity? "Are you okay now, Carrie Anne?"

I nodded slowly. I turned to Dallas. "Thanks for helping me," I told him. He nodded and flicked out a switchblade, opening it in and out, in and out…I shook my head. He acted as if he hadn't even heard me. Did he still hate me? No, probably not a lot because he had helped me. But still, if you feel bad for someone that you hate, you can help them then, and maybe that's what Dallas did…I had no idea.

I shakily stood to my feet. "I think I should probably get going now."

"No way, not alone anyways. Soda? Steve, you two wanna walk her home?" Darry asked Soda and the other boy on the other couch. They just looked at each other. They looked very tired too, and because of their identical blue DX shirts, I concluded they worked at the same place. Darry turned around. "Johnny?" With a quick nod of the head Johnny was on his feet and heading toward the door. I called goodbye to everyone, and we left for my house.

After a few minutes, once we were getting closer to Soc territory, I grabbed Johnny's hand. If he wasn't with me, I would be way too scared to be walking home like this. He made me feel safer.

He looked at me with his large doe eyes, confused and surprised at my random gesture. I smiled softly at him, and we continued walking in silence, with nothing to say.

Once we were at my house, we stopped on my porch. "Thanks for everything, Johnny. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," I told him. He nodded, his eyes at the ground. When my hand was on the knob of the door to open it and go inside, after what seemed like forever he finally looked up at me.

"I'm glad you're okay." Those four words made me feel so much better, because I knew that he meant them. I grinned at him, but he didn't grin back. He was just so…_serious_ about everything. It scared me. Had he been that way forever, or had something caused him to turn that way? I would eventually figure that part out.

"Bye," I said as I went inside, letting go of his hand. Did perhaps Johnny like me, the way I liked him? I doubted it; he was probably just being polite. But still, you could never really tell… I ran upstairs. Through my bedroom window I watched from above as Johnny Cade trudged down the sidewalk, still staring at his shoes.

**--**

"Carrie Anne, what happened to your cheek?" Charlene asked me that night as I was doing my homework up in my room and she was in there because she was bored and we spent a lot of time together. I stared at her, not knowing what she was talking about. She pointed at my cheek, and I winced. I guess it was where Darry had the ice there earlier. There was probably a bruise there from those Socs who were slugging me in the face, but I couldn't tell her that. She'd tell Mom and Dad and I wouldn't be able to leave the house. My little sister would have more of a social life than me. But it's not like I had anywhere to go. Dawn was my friend, and Johnny was sort of like a friend, but other than all of Johnny's friends who were fairly nice to me, I had nobody.

"Um…" I thought for a second. "Today, in art class, I crashed into the door. And it had purple paint that won't come off. What you see on my cheek is the paint, it has gone into my skin." I lied. As you can see, I'm a very bad liar. I'm surprised that Charlene believed me.

Her eyes widened. "Purple skin? That's amazing! I want purple skin! I'm gonna go ask Mommy for some purple paint," she finished, getting up. I caught her by the arm, Mom can't know about this. She would know that the lie was completely untrue(hence, lie)unlike my sister. My stomach was growling because I skipped dinner so my parents wouldn't see this.

"She can't know about it, it's a secret. I wasn't supposed to know about it because this purple paint isn't in stores yet," I told her, still holding on to her arm. She nodded.

"Hey, Carrie Anne?"

I sighed. She was starting to seriously annoy me. I didn't feel like answering all of these unanswerable questions today. I was tired from earlier, I had a large headache from the algebra I was doing and also from numerous other things, and it was boiling in my room. "What, Char?" I replied.

"I wanna know, how come you were with a boy earlier on our porch?"


	5. Folsom Prison Blues

Hey, guys

**Hey, guys! I am going to be posting a little more frequently due to my Honors Choir stuff. The audition is in seventeen days…so nervous! And I've been having really bad most-of-my-friends trouble, so right now I only have two friends and they hate each other, so if these will seem a little angsty later on…my anger is the source. Time to answer my lovely reviewssss!**

**ExtremeWriter-Hmm…I never thought about that. I wrote this chapter in a hurry and my exact thought was: "Okay. After this happens, Johnny will comfort Carrie Anne because he likes her I guess :D. Yayyyy I hope they like it." Yeah. I gotta stop thinking like that :D Yeah, at first I was thinking about Steve or someone like him-someone unlikely- coming to Carrie Anne's rescue but then I read through the other three chapters and remembered "Oh wait. Steve and Carrie Anne haven't met yet." And that would have been really weird. I know Dally was a little OOC there(I just now figured out what that meant…I am so slow) and I would re-do it but I don't think I'd re-do it very well. And I have a feeling that **_**very, very, VERY **_** deep down Dally may have a teensy bit of good in his heart to help Johnny's crush. Yeah. LOL the "purple skin" thing was all just improv :D I really am a bad liar, and that's something I'd try to convince a little kid. Thanks for reviewing!**

**TheNightimeSky(both reviews)-Oh, that's okay :D I'm glad you're just reading and telling me what you think, you have no idea how much I appreciate it :D LOL thank you, I am glad that Carrie Anne is perfect. I try to base her off of me. LOL yeah I know that movies were 25 cents but I had no idea what soda was. So I was just like what the heck. also kicks rockYeah, everything was simpler back then. I'm glad that I had Dallas in character. I will try to update soon, but I do not want to update too quick. Mkay?**

**rezmutt-IDK I wrote this on the bus and I wasn't sure what I was gonna do and I added that at the last minute. Sorry! Oh and thank you, I'm glad to know what you thought of it.**

**North American Voice-Thank you, and I'm glad you think so! I'm not really sure what three dimensional-ism is but I think I'll figure it out…thank you for reviewing!**

**theultimateoutsider-:D Thank you, I'm so glad for your reviewing consistency, lol. I hope you like this chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER TIME! I DO NOT OWN THE UNDESCRIBABLY(gee, I didn't know that was a word. I was surprised when Spell Check didn't go underlining it with the red squiggly line)AMAZING PIECE OF LIETERATURE THE OUTSIDERS!**

I walked into the room, rather un-cheerful for once. I was _tired_ and really annoyed at just…everything. I hadn't smiled once yet this morning, despite my desperate attempts to, like when I saw Two-Bit in the hallway on the way to English about two minutes earlier. He made this goofy face at me and usually I would have laughed my head off, but I didn't, and that was really unlike me. I felt really bad, because when I didn't laugh, his eyes weren't laughing anymore. He gave me a little smile, though. I liked Two-Bit, even though I never had really talked to him.

I sat down in my seat next to Johnny. Today, he actually made eye contact with me when I sat down! He wasn't staring at his books, or at his shoes! _Well, there's a first,_ I thought. I smiled at him, I couldn't help it. "Morning, Johnny." I greeted, taking out my notebook and copying down our assignment on the board.

"Morning." He replied.

Throughout the class, Johnny was quiet; as usual. But out of the corner of my eye, I could see him occasionally glance at me. One time I turned around and caught him and his cheeks colored and he turned away. I chuckled then continued paying attention to the teacher. This was a fun game! Except it probably wasn't a game to Johnny. I was beginning to become a little bit suspicious of this.

When class ended, Dawn and I locked eyes and stood up so we could walk together to American History, but I heard a voice behind me say quickly, "Hey, Carrie Anne?" Before I even turned around I knew who it was. I guess Dawn knew too, because then Dawn smiled and started walking out, mouthing, "I'll wait." I nodded at her in thanks.

I turned to Johnny. "Yes?" I answered. He was shuffling his feet, but then he looked up at me with those large, mysterious black eyes that made me love when he looked at me. He took a deep breath and uttered the most intelligent statement I've ever heard: "Wanngomvieswime?"

I stared at him blankly. "Um…come again?" What he had just said sounded…I don't know, Irish or something. I don't know Irish. But I was pretty sure it was English…just…really fast English.

"Um…" he cleared his throat. "You wanna go to the drive-in with me sometime? Like, tonight?"

I smiled at him. He was just so sweet. Inside I was screaming, "YES! YES! YES!" but I couldn't shout that in the middle of the now-empty room. It'd surprise Johnny and possibly scare him and not want to go out with me. "Sure, I'd love to."

For the first time EVER, I actually saw Johnny Cade really smile. And it was just as wonderful as I expected it to be, I could have cried. It just made me feel a whole lot better. "Um…really? That's great! I'll pick you up at seven um…"

I felt a lot better than earlier and the giddiest I'd ever been, but I tried my hardest not to show it because I'd probably make a huge fool of myself in front of Johnny in the process. And I knew I was capable of doing that, because I had done similar things before. "Here." I took my pen, grabbed his hand, and wrote down my address. "That's where I live. Think you can find it?" He nodded slowly, staring at his hand. "Great. See you tonight then, Johnny." I half-skipped, half-ran out of the room.

You know what's so funny? How moods can change so drastically with one little event, and it can change your whole perspective of the day around. I mean, at 8:00 in the morning you can be all like, "I hate life, I want to die, and I'm too tired to go on." All depressed-like and exhausted, you know? And then at 9:00 in the morning when something really awesome happens to you, then you're running through a field of posies singing, "I am so very happy today, an adorable greaser boy asked me out on a date and looked really cute while doing it! I no longer want to die, this is such a happy day, I feel like singing I feel Pretty! Here, I'll start! I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and-" Yup, that's how I felt. Except I didn't exactly say those things or sing a song from West Side Story.

Despite how long that took, Dawn was still waiting for me, like a good friend always will. "Oooh, ooh I know what happened!" she said excitedly, her black ponytail bouncing up and down while she jumped after seeing my face when I came out of the classroom. "I told you! I_ told_ you, Carrie Anne-"

"Shhhhh!" I shushed her. I had a feeling…I turned around. There was Johnny about ten feet away, walking and watching. I grinned and waved at him, trying to appear like I didn't know that he could hear her squeals. He looked at me for a second, and then he waved back. He turned down another hallway and disappeared. _Hmm, either he was pretending he couldn't hear her squeals too or he just couldn't and was wondering why I was waving. Oh well. _Once I made sure he was out of earshot, I turned back to Dawn. "Okay. You were right." But then…we heard the tardy bell ring.

When we got there, I spluttered, "I'M NOT LATE!" and dove for my seat. I ended up crashing into someone though. The class erupted into laughter, and Mr. Listing gave me a disapproving look.

"You have uttered that statement every day for the last week, Miss West. Yesterday, I told you it was your fourth warning. Detention. Here. After school until 4:00."

I giggled in spite of myself once he turned around. I couldn't help it, he was just so funny without meaning to be, but he also terrified me to death at the same time. He turned back around and looked at me suspiciously, I feigned an innocent face, and then he turned back around. I looked over at Dawn at the other side of the room. She mouthed, 'I'm sorry,' and I just shrugged.

**--**

"So. What are you going to wear?" Dawn asked me as we sat down to eat at lunch.

"I have no idea. What's wrong with this?" I questioned, gesturing to the outfit I was already wearing. Dawn studied it for a second, and then she sighed and I knew I had won. Won what, you may ask? I have no idea. I didn't want to fuss about what I was going to wear. After all, I'd never been on a date before. All the guys where I used to live were afraid of my unusual cheerfulness.

"Your parents _will_ let you go out with a greaser, right?"

"My parents don't really know about the whole greaser-Soc thing. So I don't think they'd really care." I was just picking at my food. I had to eat; I'd skipped breakfast this morning in my hurry to get out the door, even though I was never really hungry in the first place. "I don't."

Dawn didn't say anything for about five minutes, but then she turned and looked at me. "Dallas Winston scares me to death." She told me. I looked around, I didn't see him. He didn't scare me as much as he used to.

"Oh, he's not that bad." I assured her. I mean, I knew from experience.

Her eyes grew wide at me. "OH YES HE-wait, Carrie Anne, how do you know him?" Her face went white. "Oh my gosh…were they talking about _you?"_

I stared at her, not knowing what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"The-the Socs…they're bragging about how they jumped some girl last night who stopped a jumping of Ponyboy Curtis at one of their bonfires. But Dallas Winston came to save her. Was that you?"

I sighed. I was caught. "Yes. That was me. Noel made me come to one of the parties with her last week and they all felt like jumping someone for fun, so they found Ponyboy and I ran to his house and… Then last night I was going for a walk and I was caught by two of the guys that were jumping Ponyboy and Dallas saved me and brought me back to Ponyboy's house for a little while." I took a deep breath. I was remembering what happened last night and I really didn't want to. This is why nobody else knew besides the people that were there. "So…yeah."

Dawn went over to the other side of the table and hugged me. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry." She said. I nodded. "I would have been crying and scared and…"

"Yeah, Dawn. That was me," I told her, starting to grin for some reason, even though it really wasn't funny at all. "But I'm okay now." She nodded slowly, understanding.

**--**

When the bell rang, I got my stuff and headed back to Mr. Listing's room for my detention. I went in there and Mr. Listing wasn't even in the room, but there were a few greasers, one of Noel's annoying Soc friends who looked very angry, her boyfriend, and that was it. They all eyed me as I came in, and for a second I felt very uncomfortable, then I just waved. Noel's friend, Aggie, rolled her eyes at me. Then, a greaser boy flipped her off.

I sat down at an empty table, and the boy came up to me and sat down in the seat next to me. "Hey. Who're you with?" he questioned me in a gruff voice, his eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not understanding what I just heard. Who was this kid? He was kind of creepy…

"Curly, get away from that innocent girl! You'll probably give her herpes or something! Anyway, she's going with Johnny Cade," a heard a jolly voice call out. I chuckled, and then turned around. It was Two-Bit, and the boy he called Curly (which was sort of ironic or whatever that word is, because he didn't even have curly hair) bolted back to his seat, and Two-Bit settled down next to me.

"Hey. What'd you do to land yourself in detention?" he asked, toying with a large black-handled switchblade. I stared at him, and once I didn't answer, he looked up at me to see why. "What is it?"

"How did you know?"

"About wha-OH. Asked Johnny if he'd asked you out yet. Jokin' around, you know. He said yes." He looked up at the ceiling. "Think of me as the god of all your life."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Okay then, 'god'. Answer this: does Johnny like me?" Now I was the one joking around. But I guess ol' Two-Bit didn't know that.

His expression went from a mixture of contentment and boredom to surprise. "Of course he does, Carrie Anne! Why wouldn't he? Why would he bother to ask you out if he didn't like you?"

We were both quiet for about ten minutes, occupying ourselves with other things once Mr. Listing came into the room. The others were messing around, and he didn't seem to care. So much for detention. I studied Two-Bit while pretending to read my book. He didn't look that young. I mean, he didn't look like a full-fledged adult but he didn't look fifteen.

"Two-Bit?" He glanced up at me to show he was listening. "What grade are you in?"

"Tenth, same as you," he replied. I continued studying him. "Darlin, I know the girls go after me like a cat after a mouse, but why are you staring at me?"

"How old are you?" I inquired, ignoring his question. I rolled my eyes.

"Almost eighteen."

_Oh, so that's why._

**Reviews are GREATLY appreciated, I still have a lot I need to work on. I hoped you liked it, Johnny/Carrie Anne date in the next chap, and there will be Charlene in that one! So Stay Gold/Spring Nicht off the Eiffel Tower!**


	6. Blowin in the Wind

Well, I have to say the funniest part in THIS chapter was Two-Bit's line:

**Hey guys! I've been really busy lately…and sick and completely having stuff happen at home…but I'm starting anyway. Just a quick announcement, I'm going to try to update every Monday and Thursday (maybe just once a week, I don't know) because I am starting to have major scheduling things in prepping for Honors Choir. I really appreciate all of your feedback; this is a lot more successful than I thought it would be! Now, to answer my lovely reviews:**

**ExtremeWriter-Yeah, that part I just randomly thought of because I was like, "Hmmm, what would Two-Bit say?" Carrie Anne is often based off of me because I have a bad habit of staring at people :DblushesOh my gosh…you really notice things! I almost forgot about that, I luv Harry Potter!**

**I'm glad everyone's characterization was good, I mean, that's one of the really important things. LOL Curly…I couldn't think of anyone else. I don't know if he went to school…I don't think Tim went to school, but it was just wondering. Yes, the way Curly is described in the book indicates that he isn't very smart.**

**Are you psychic or something? I began writing this chappie the night after I uploaded the other one, and Noel IS in there! I hope I'm not too predictable ******** Thank you for reviewing!**

**TheNightimeSky-LOL Two-Bit was just calling me, there was a thing like…my conscience, "JENNA! HEY,JENNA PUT ME IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF REBEL YELL! I belong in there, really! I WANNA GO TO DETENTION!" yup :D It's okay, I'm glad my story's important enough for you to risk being on the computer! Thanks for reviewing!**

As I was finishing up some English homework in the kitchen, I forgot how truly quickly time can pass. At seven, all I heard was Bobby's Girl by Marcie Blaine on the radio until I heard a soft knock on the door. Following that was the sound of a door opening and a high, squeaky voice exclaiming, "You're the boy from the porch! My name's Charlene, who are you mystery boy?"

I sprinted for the door to prevent Johnny from being embarrassed by the torture of my little sister. "Char…" I started as I came into the room. Her perky ponytailed head turned around to face me. She had a huge grin on her face, and Johnny was standing in the doorway with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment on his face. "This is Johnny. Can you go tell Mom that-"

"Tell me what?" My mom's voice came from the stairs. She came strolling into the room, and she saw Johnny. "Why hello!" She gave me an asking look, as if to say, _Who's the kid in our doorway and why's he here, Carrie Anne West?_

"Hi," Johnny managed softly shuffling his feet and leaning on the door frame. Charlene was still standing there, looking up at him with large, wondering eyes. He looked very uncomfortable. I smiled at him.

"Mama, this is Johnny. We're…um, going to a movie," I told her. She nodded, understanding. My mom may pretend not to care about anything, but even if she did care…well, she _did_ see the look in my eyes when I looked at Johnny. Some people just don't get it, like Charlene had no idea. She gave him a kind smile, and Charlene quickly gave him an identical one.

"Alright, Carrie Anne. Be home by ten, alright?" I nodded, just wanting to get out of there. "Have a good time. Nice meeting you, Johnny."

"You too, ma'am." He got out before I grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out the door before my dad came out. If that happened, then it would NOT be good and I wouldn't have a very good chance of leaving the house. And I'd been scared of my dad ever since he'd started fighting with my mom. I used to not be scared of anything.

I let go of his wrist once we came outside. The sun was beginning to set, and it was really pretty. I stared up at the sky, and then…I ran into a telephone pole. I also fell back onto the sidewalk on my butt. _Yeah, really smooth, Carrie Anne, _I thought as I blushed, turning my face away from Johnny. "Alright there?" Johnny asked, pulling me to my feet.

"Yup," I answered, trying to shrug it off. He didn't seem to care, and I was glad. Some boys would just tease you about it, but Johnny didn't seem like the teasing type.

I can't describe how I felt when I was around Johnny Cade. I just felt…that I could be open and be myself around him. Often, my strange perkiness was just an act; I didn't want to express how I really felt. But around Johnny, it was just like…an automatic thing. Like, when some girls are within twenty feet of their crush, they always blush, start running away, or giggle. Not me. People say I'm a flirt because I say hi to every guy I see, but it's just a natural thing. I want to meet as many people as I can before I kick the bucket. I like to say, "If I meet as many people as possible, I'll be able to walk down the streets of Heaven and stop and say, 'Hey, I met you at the grocery store!' or something like that and then we can be best friends!"

We came to the drive-in about ten minutes later, and Johnny hadn't said a whole lot on the way there, but I didn't feel nervous or anything. The movie started, and about fifteen minutes into it Johnny got up and asked, "Want a Coke?" He was probably bored with this movie. It was one of those stupid Frankie and Annette movies, the one where Annette gets super mad that Frankie's dancing with all these blonde chicks. I don't know why she was so mad; Frankie's not even cute.

"Sure," I replied, holding out a dime to pay for mine. He shook his head and muttered something like, "I got enough." I didn't feel like arguing with him, so I just smiled.

I was sitting there for a little while, trying to watch the movie and interpret what was going on, but it wasn't working. "So, Carrie Anne. Here all alone?" I heard a familiar snooty voice interrogate from behind me. I rolled my eyes; I knew who it was even before I turned around. Reluctantly, I did. There was Noel, with Eva and one of her other friends, a redhead with her.

"No," I answered, trying to control the anger in my voice. I always got this burst of anger whenever I saw her, it was kind of weird, but I had a reason for that. I hated her for many reasons, and also it was that time of the month so I'm kind of moody. "I'm here with Johnny Cade."

"Ha!" Noel started. Then she faked a surprised look. "Oh, really, you were serious? Golly Carrie Anne, I was sure you could do better than greasy trash. He won't get you nowhere…" I then noticed Johnny behind her, a pained look on his face, and he noticed I saw him and moved his eyes to the ground. Then, Noel seemed to see him too. "Oh, nothing against you, Johnny." She sneered, flouncing away with her friends. I heard their peals of cruel laughter as they left. How could they be so mean?

Johnny sat down, handed me a Coke, and set his down next to him. He seemed to notice I was looking over to him. I knew that he didn't want pity, just like anyone else, but I couldn't help it. I didn't understand _why_ the Socs would hate the greasers. I mean, Dallas might do something to provoke them, but Johnny, Soda, Ponyboy…and the rest, they were so nice.

Johnny avoided my eyes and stared at the ground with an emotion on his face that was mixed with anger, annoyance, and embarrassment. "Johnny?" I asked. He didn't show any sign that he'd heard me. "Johnny, look at me please." He kicked the seat in front of him. No, not hard, just he kind of kicked it. I softly took his hand, and he jumped at my touch. He looked down at his hand intertwined with mine and then up at me. "Don't listen to what they say, they don't know you."

He hesitated, and then said, "They're right, you know? You shouldn't be with a greaser. You deserve to be with someone better than me."

That was quite a speech for him, but I didn't want him to think that way, because I knew that those stupid Socy girls weren't right and they never would be…"Well, I happen to like greasers. Anyone else I would never go out with. So they aren't right." My voice grew softer without me controlling it. "I like you a lot, Johnny."

"Me too," he replied. I knew what I meant, but I gave him a funny look. "Oh! Oh, sorry. I mean, I like you too, Carrie Anne." He swallowed. "A lot."

I don't know what happened, but we were looking into each other's eyes and some magnetic force from the core of the Earth pulled us closer, and our lips connected. It was amazing. After about five seconds, we broke it. My heart was racing. I grinned at him, unnaturally giddy.

At nine, the movie ended. We still had about an hour before I needed to be home. "Wanna watch the stars?" Johnny asked. I nodded, and I'd never really watched the stars before. I'd never taken real notice of them.

We walked down the street in the neighborhood where the Curtis brothers lived, and we passed a beat-up house where people were yelling and screaming and there were the sounds of things breaking against the walls. It was like a more advanced version of my home. "Johnny? Where do you live?"

He cringed at the yelling in the house, and turned back to me. "Um…not around here," he replied quickly. _Too quickly._ I shrugged it off. We came to this vacant lot lit up faintly by a nearby streetlamp. I could make out a discarded seat that probably used to belong in a van in front of a dead fire. We sat down on the seat (which was probably what it was used for, sitting and watching the stars. How convenient!), and we stared up at the stars. I was tired, but I wanted to still be with him. So I leaned my head against his shoulder, still looking up at the stars.

"They're so far away, but I just wanna reach out and grab one, you know?"

"I know what you mean." He replied. I was freezing, and he felt so warm… "Do you like it here?" he asked randomly. He was starting to talk quite a bit more, but he was still quiet Johnny. And I liked quiet Johnny because he was so much more different than me. I guess the saying is true-opposites do attract. At least, sometimes.

"Here…as in Tulsa-here, or like…here-here?" I asked, not sure if I was making any sense.

"Um…here-here, like where we are." He replied, still looking up at the sky. He looked like he was distracted on something that made him think really hard.

"Oh, yes! I love it. I can't see it where I live," I answered truthfully.

We sat in silence for a long time, just staring at the sky. I felt like I was in some sort of trance and the only two things I was aware of was we were staring at the unfathomable vastness of the sky and the many stars that dotted it and I was curled up next to an amazing guy. Then, I caught sight of my watch. 9:30. "We should get going."

On the way home, I held his hand, shivering. He was lucky he wasn't in a skirt! When we were there, the only light that was on was in the living room. I was surprised…that usually didn't happen unless my parents were fighting, but I didn't hear anything. We stood on the porch awkwardly.

I kissed Johnny on the cheek really fast. "Bye Johnny."

"Bye, Carrie Anne…" his voice slowly did a decrescendo.

I went inside and softly closed the door behind me softly, because I wasn't sure if anyone was up. I was pretty sure that I could just sneak upstairs and go to bed.

My dad was sitting in the armchair in our living room, newspaper in hand, glaring at me. "Where have you been, Carrie Anne?"

"The movies." I replied, starting to slowly edge toward the stairs so I could go to bed. I didn't want to deal with my dad tonight, because he was so unpredictable, you never knew what he would do.

"With whom?" he asked in his steely voice that Dallas Winston would have envied. I'm serious, that's how exceedingly bad he was scaring me. Worse than Dally.

I sighed. "That boy on the porch," I replied.

"You didn't tell anyone," he said. His eyes were scaring me, really bad. I was expecting red lasers to come out, or maybe he would start to act like he was possessed or something.

"Yes I did. I told Mom when Johnny came. Even ask her, Charlene was also there if you need more witnesses." He glared at me and lunged in his drunken stupor. I ran up the stairs, him stumbling after me. I slammed the door and locked it, leaning against it, breathing hard. I was afraid of my dad.  
I didn't want anybody to know about this.

**Okay, I know that was very short compared to the rest, and I hope that I didn't disappoint you ******** I have an idea for the next one or two chapters. Today was Pajama Day for our Spirit Week and I wrote this in Science when I was supposed to be doing my make-up work…Now I'm going to go do my essay that's due tomorrow and read the remaining 450 pages of my book that I have to have done by Friday. Wish me luck. I always put my homework off. I should probably stop doing that. Have a nice day :D **

**Stay Gold,**

**Jenna**


	7. Angel

Thirteen emails of reviews-add that in

**Geez! We're taking this stupid test, and I hate it! I have a headache…and this is my third different version of this chap, I couldn't decide. Okay, so I got on my AOL on last Tuesday afternoon, and I have thirteen emails from the twenty hour span that I uploaded my chap. One was from my youth pastor, one was my chapter submission, six were alerts…favorites…stuff. And five were reviews. I am so happy with my reviews, I thank everyone who reviewed! And now I will answer them:**

**Fire Fairy Ember-Really? I am so happy you said that! Thank you so much!**

**Celestra-Thank you so much for your review and your words! I hope you like this!**

**ExtremeWriter-I actually am supposed to be reading the remaining 400 pages of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens by tomorrow morning because I have to take a test…I will most likely fail, even though I looked up what happened on Wikipedia :D**

**You probably are psychic! I am currently planning what will happen to Noel…any suggestions, tell me! Oh, my gosh, I have always been compassionate to his character! My teacher is reading it because I made her and I talk her ear off about how I feel about Johnny, and she's like, "Gosh, girl, JOHNNY IS FICTIONAL!" and I was like…oh no you didn't!**

**I hate those types of people too. Yeah, I'm still thinking about her family. I'll think of something and it won't be disappointing, promise :D LOL I just had a vision of Tim trying to pay attention in class…that would never happen, and he does not go to school! LOL Thanks for the review**

**rezznut-Thank you for reviewing! And even though I hate for somebody to be mean to Johnny, Noel will be very mean, but something will happen to her!**

**Confuzzled2011-Thank you so much, and thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you like it!**

**TheNightimeSky-Multi-tasking is…awesome :D I use it frequently. WOOT! LOL Thank youuuuu…Carrie Anne's dad is a little like Johnny's but slightly better. He doesn't beat anyone, he just tends to yell and throw and break things. Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you did good on your bio test!**

**won't be the victim-Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you like this chapter!**

**tear-drowned-angel-thank you! Noel is supposed to be hated :D If someone liked her character, I'd be scared. But thank you for reviewing and I hope you like this chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: Jenna doesn't own the Outsiders, her favorite author and idol S.E. Hinton owns that and she envies her. Jenna only owns Carrie Anne, the rest of the West family, Noel and her pack of Socs(except Cherry who will be mentioned later on)and…the like. **

**Enjoy!**

"Carrie Anne, where's Daddy at? He didn't come home, how come he didn't?" Charlene questioned me on Friday night. I was babysitting her because my mom was at work and my dad was…oh, God knows where. He never came home that night, and I didn't know why, but I really didn't care.

I wouldn't be stuck at home if someone wasn't here. Earlier today I was planning on doing something with Dawn, Johnny and another middle-class boy who was friends with Ponyboy, Andrew, but Johnny wasn't at school today. And then Andrew said if Johnny couldn't come, it'd be awkward enough. Then me and Dawn were going to go to the movie house, and my mom told me I had to baby-sit Charlene. But Charlene's not that bad. She's a nice kid, and she doesn't throw fits or anything. But she has two really bad habits; staring at people which makes them scared of her, and also questioning you constantly. It is exceedingly annoying, and usually her questions are stupid, but I can't complain about it because I did the same thing when I was her age. I guess it's in our blood.

I shrugged as an answer to Charlene and flipped the channel. Leave it to Beaver. The only reason I watch that show is because I think Wally is hot, but Beaver has the most annoying voice that I can not stand to watch the show. Except when he's older. My next choice was I Love Lucy. I love that show, but I don't love Lucy. I sighed. There was nothing on. The Ed Sullivan Show…the Beatles. Again. I have had enough of them and their shaggy hair and that John Lennon guy, seriously…they didn't have Elvis on that show because he "moved his pelvis inappropriately for the public, and there is better music for families to listen to." Stupid Ed Sullivan, who died and made him King of Rock and Roll?

I picked up my book _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe _and began to read. I loved this book, I owned the whole series. My mom was a teenager when C. S. Lewis came out with the first book and she passed down her copies to me. I was lost in it for a while. I got to the part where Lucy comes out of the wardrobe from Narnia for the first time and then I heard a thump. It was an asleep Charlene, falling off the couch. I picked her back up and set her down.

Then I heard another thump. There was my dad, drunkest I'd ever seen him, stumbling into the room. I was scared. I hadn't often seen my dad drunk, it had started when we moved here…and behind him was Noel's dad. Great, just great. What, is Noel's brother going to come out too? Apparently not, but two grown drunken men and two girls equals not good things.

"Adam…your daughter'sss going out with greaser," Noel's dad slurred, coming toward us. He had a cigarette in his hand. He pushed it onto the blanket that was covering me and it singed a hole, then he started toward my arm. I stood right up and went away from him. I didn't want any burning holes in my arm. I was freaking out. What was he doing?

"I know. I don't know what to do…" my dad slurred, pushing Charlene off the couch and pulling out a beer bottle. She woke up and she stared at my dad with wide eyes. She backed toward me and sat on the floor against my feet. He finished it off, and he turned to me. "Girl. Go get me another beer."

I shook my head. "What?" he asked, thinking I didn't mean it. I shook my head again, too frightened to talk. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that this wouldn't be good, so I was really afraid. Fear can do bad things for you, but it also keeps you alert. He suddenly got a burst of anger and threw the bottle at me. If I didn't duck, it would have hit me square in the face. I was really scared. I picked up Charlene, opened the door, and ran outside.

My dad threw another beer bottle and it hit me in my shoulder. I winced and tried to ignore the pain and blood running down my arm and broke into a sprint. To where? I had no idea, but then I decided I could sleep on that discarded seat in the lot.

I finally ended up at the lot where Johnny had taken me. I sat Charlene down on the ground and I laid down next to her. She was now fully aware that we weren't going back to the house. "Carrie Anne…why aren't we at home?" she asked me in a small voice. I shook my head, not wanting to answer her question. "I'm cold."

"Okay, Char. I am too."

"I'm scared."

I sighed. "I am too." But then a figure that looked like a human came out of the shadows. I was scared right then, because I didn't know who it was. It could have been my dad! But it wasn't. I stood up.

Because then I heard a soft voice say "Carrie Anne?" I squinted, and then I saw Johnny coming out of the dark.

"HEY! It's…it's…" Char squirmed in her trying to remember his name. "OH! It's Johnny! Hi Johnny!"

Johnny gave her a small smile. "What are you doing here…oh my God-" He saw my shoulder and the blood coming out of it. "What happened to you?"

"Daddy threw stuff at her." Charlene explained to him. Johnny looked at her confused. "A big brown bottle that was long at the top. He was real mad."

Johnny's eyes softened. I was beginning to see two of him, I was tired and I felt faint from the pain. I was beginning to sway back and forth. "Where were you today?"

Then the ground came to meet me very suddenly.

**--**

"You have a very pretty smile!" a little voice squeaked. Possibly Charlene. She was always giving out compliments on people's appearance, and her voice was so tiny and squeaky.

"Why thank you! You do too." My eyes were closed, but I knew that was Sodapop. I tried to turn over on the thing I was lying on, but my other side hurt. "Hey Dar. I think she's coming to."

I opened my eyes, and Soda and Darry were at my side. "Hey, Carrie Anne. How do you feel?" Soda asked me in a gentle voice. He touched my shoulder, and I winced a little. It didn't hurt as bad as before, which is when I realized that it had been bandaged up.

I sat up. "Where am I?" I looked around and I was still a little dizzy. I saw Sodapop, Darry, Ponyboy, Charlene, Two-Bit, and Johnny. I knew where I was now, I was at the Curtis house. But why was I here? "Never mind." Johnny was flipping through channels on the TV similar to what I'd been doing. "How long have I been out?"

"Like…a half an hour. Long enough for Johnny to carry you here, us to bandage up your arm, and give your little sister some chocolate milk," Soda replied. "Feel better?"

I nodded. "Yeah…" I started to slowly get to my feet. "Well, thanks…"

"Where do you think you're going?" Darry asked me, standing up. He was at least a foot taller than me, and he was like a brick wall guarding me from taking another step. Darry was huge. I was afraid of him.

"Well…" I hesitated.

"Oh don't worry. We know that part. Charlene explained it very clearly to us. You're staying here tonight, you don't think we're gonna let you sleep out there, do you?"

"Oh, no you don't have to," I protested.

Charlene was sitting on Soda's lap. "Oh, come on, Carrie Anne! Pleeaaaaase?" she begged. I sighed in finality and nodded. "YAY! We're gonna have a sleepover at Soda's house!" she cheered. Soda grinned.

"You should probably sit back down, Carrie Anne. You're white as a sheet!" I obeyed him and sat back down. Ponyboy was sitting on one arm of the couch reading a book. I turned the book toward me to see what the title was. Great Expectations.

"How can you read that?" I asked. He gave me a questioning look. "I mean, I read it but I couldn't concentrate. It was so confusing…and Estella was really mean to Pip and it was just so weird and confusing!"

Ponyboy smiled. "I like it. I think it's kind of interesting how Estella was always looking down on him 'cause he wasn't a gentleman." He paused, deep in thought. "Kind of like how it still is."

"I never thought of that," I said. "You're very smart." Ponyboy's cheeks tinted slightly pink at my comment. Then I went over and sat by Johnny where he was. "Hey."

He looked over at me. "Hey."

"I just wanted to thank you for helping me and my sister. That was really sweet. And I also wanted to thank you for carrying me here because I know that'd be hard." I told him. We were sharing a smaller couch. His eyes had been expressionlessly glued to the TV before I'd came by and sat next to him. Now the large black orbs were staring into my green ones. I loved looking into his eyes. Often I got lost in them.

He rolled his eyes. "It wasn't." I smiled and while he was still turned toward me I kissed him. Really fast, and it left him dazed, as if he was questioning if I did. Two-Bit laughed and so did Soda who was sprawled out on the floor.

"Johnny's got his first kiss from Carrie Anne! See Soda, I told you that she'd wait till after their first date!"

"They already kissed, you blockhead!" Ponyboy spoke up. Then he covered his mouth and out came a muffled "Oops…sorry Johnny." I giggled.

"Go back to your book, Ponyboy."

**--**

"Johnny?" I muttered.

"Huh?" he answered, half-asleep. It was around two in the morning; everyone else was asleep and we were still up, watching TV, me curled up against his warm body.

"How's come you weren't at school today?" I asked. I'd missed him.

There was a pause. "Hmmmmmm," he answered. I could tell that he probably didn't want to tell me right now. "Not right now." I was right.

I closed my eyes and used his shoulder for a pillow. I felt him stiffen, but then he relaxed. I felt him grab something and he switched the TV off. Then…I think I fell asleep.

**Okay, I know this may have seemed a little short, but I am suffering from severe writer's block. Oh, and as for Great Expectations, two weeks ago I read that book because I remembered in the Outsiders that Ponyboy was talking about how he had to read it for English class (hence the line: **_I had to read Great Expectations for English, and that kid Pip, he reminded me of us-the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn't a gentleman or anything, and the way that girl kept looking down at him._**) and it was unusually boring to me. I didn't like it. I couldn't concentrate. Now I'm reading Inkspell, I read Inkheart and it's so good. Anyone read it? If you haven't get it. It's by Cornelia Funke.**

**I'm giving book recommendations in my author's note, and while I'm at it…watch the movie Help! It's an old Beatles movie(in this Carrie Anne hates the Beatles, but I really love the Beatles.)and it's so weird! But I love it. All these people try to steal Ring's rings :D**

**Stay Gold,**

**Jenna**


	8. Leave out all the Rest

Hey guys, my inbox has been filled with reviews in the last day

**Hey guys, my inbox has been filled with reviews in the last day! And I just got home from Honors Choir audition, so nervous…but it was fun. So I will answer my lovely reviews…**

**Ember-LOL I wouldn't have gotten your review if I hadn't checked my email before I updated :D Thank you!**

**theultimateoutsider-LOL that's okay, I've been really busy. I'm so glad you still like it! How ironic, you said that Johnny's being too shy, and ExtremeWriter said he was being too talkative. What should I doooooo? The plot of Great Expectations was alright, but it was so hard to read…yes, the main character is Pip. His name stuck in my head because when I first read the Outsiders, I was like "What kind of name is Pip?" It's pretty cool, though. I should see the movie. Actually, there is two endings that Charles Dickens wrote: Estella and Pip get together and…another ending that I can't remember.LOL I took my test and I got 50. The worst I've ever done in English, and I get really good grades in that class. But I have an A- right now, so it's all good :D**  
**ExtremeWriter-YES! I AM PSYCHIC! I totally agree, it was extremely hard to focus on it and Pip kept going forward in his life without telling anyone, it was so difficult…Oh, crap. I forgot about that part. I didn't think about how he'd said he was reading it during the book. Oops! Ignore that, pretend he was reading…Anne of Green Gables or something. That book was relatively…augh. Idk. Hmm…I may cook something up with that. Good idea. LOL I love Johnny. I am exactly the opposite of him(I'm more like a Sodapop/Ponyboy, I like to read and I'm deep but I'm really loud and random)but I just fell in love with him! If she wasn't my teacher and I hadn't known her since she was about nineteen and I was five, she would have total GOT it.LOL. Oh my gosh I feel so bad, I forgot about Pony ******** I wasn't really sure how to add him in there…**

**rezmutt-Thank you for reviewing! I just got done with Inkspell. Same here, I always think I've read a book since it sounds familiar…**

**Meivu-Thank you! Yeah, I tend to do that. With my last fan fiction(I deleted it, I got mad at it)the main character was a lot like me. I was reading an old chapter I'd written and I was just like…that actually happened to me. Thank you, I really appreciate when people criticize, as long as it isn't flame-ish. Thank you for reviewing!**

**Micky-Really, you like it that much? Cool, thanks for reviewing and I hope you like this chap!**

**TheNightimeSky-LOL I don't have a little sister. I wish I did though and it would be a lot easier to model Charlene after someone. :D Yeah, I don't like her dad. It actually worked because everything I like is in that time period, so I can name TV shows, celebrities…you know. I'm an oldies girl. Leave it to Beaver is weird, but Wally is hot :D I wish the Brady Bunch came out in 1965, because that is when my fic takes place and I luv the Brady Bunch, but they're kinda dorky ******** Thank you for reviewing!**

**Celestra-That was actually the mood I was in while I was writing it! I was wishing I had a boyfriend, because I'd seen this couple at my school and they looked really happy…I get my inspiration from people :D Thank you for reviewing!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE OUTSIDERS OR ANYTHING BESIDES…WELL…YOU KNOW.**

"Charlene…I need my shoes for work…" a masculine voice sort of…whined. That wasn't whining…it was more like groaning. They were trying to control the annoyance in their voice, but it wasn't working.

"Then you'll just have to catch me, Stevie!" someone laughed. There was some cursing and then a screech of "SHAME ON YOU!THAT IS A BAD WORD! YOU DON'T SAY THAT WORD!" by the same little voice. I knew that little voice…

I sighed and opened my eyes. I was still on the chair with Johnny, who was still fast asleep, and Charlene was running around the room with Steve(who I knew briefly at the time, I had no idea what he was like)chasing after my little sister who was holding a black sneaker in each hand, grinning from ear to ear.

"Steve, you can't catch a six-year-old?" someone from the other room asked, then emerged. It was Two-Bit. "Maybe it's 'cause she's so little. Or you don't run."

Steve took an angry, agitated breath. "She's very quick, okay?" he yelled at Two-Bit. I shook my head; he wouldn't be the first one to get really mad at Charlene over a little stunt of stealing some sneakers. I got off the chair and Johnny shivered in his sleep. I slipped the blanket over him and went over by Two-Bit who was on the couch, watching what was going on between Charlene and Steve like it was a movie or something.

"Why's he so mad?" I asked, though it was really kind of obvious.

Two-Bit shrugged, combing his rust-colored hair back. "Don't know. Could be several things. Your little sister is one of them, but it is very entertaining." Steve tripped over a laundry basket and fell flat on his face. Little Charlene erupted with laughter as Steve lay in a pile of jeans and T-shirts.

Then, Darry walked in. "Steve!" he groaned. "You better pick those up 'fore you go to work! Mornin' Carrie Anne."

"Hi Darry," I greeted. Then, Soda came running in, pulling on his DX shirt over his white wife beater with one hand and attempting to comb his messed up hair with the other. "FREEZE!" I bellowed. He froze immediately, not even knowing what was going on, and I took the comb from him. While he finished putting on his shirt, I combed his hair. "There ya go."

"Thanks!" Soda said, running out the door. He came back about four seconds later. "Forgot my shoes," he informed me, picking up his shoes. It surprised me that he could go out of the house without remembering that he was sock footed. I suddenly had a daydream of Soda showing up at the DX station with no shoes, slipping on the shiny floors. Then, a minute later we heard a car pull out of the driveway, but then we heard a screech of tires and it came back. "Forgot Steve. STEVE GET YOUR BUTT IN THE DARN CAR!" Steve got up, muttering about time-wasters. He himself is a time-waster, unless he was scolding himself I really have no idea of what he meant.

I didn't like Steve. And since he didn't like my little sister, I was sure he didn't like me much either. Oh well. Steve and Soda left, with Darry at their heels. I turned to Two-Bit. "Now what?" I asked.

He looked over into the kitchen. "There's…two hard-boiled eggs, leave one for Pony and you can have the other…there's chocolate cake, that is a common item on the Curtis breakfast menu…honey, do you drink?"

I stared at him, remembering what had happened last night with my dad and Noel's dad. "No!"

He seemed a little surprised at my tone of voice, as if it wasn't really a big thing. It was to me, because the man who I once knew as my father was drinking his life away and didn't seem to care. "Didn't think so. But hey, you never know. There's chocolate milk in the icebox." I nodded and helped myself. I sat down next to him. "Glory, kid, what time did Johnny go to sleep last night? If I didn't know better I'd think he was dead…"

I shrugged. "Maybe around three. What time is it?"

"Eight."

Charlene came bounding into the room. "I like this place, Carrie Anne. I even like Steve." I nodded at her as I poured myself another glass of chocolate milk. "Frankie's not my boyfriend anymore. Guess who? Guess who it is, Carrie Anne!" When I didn't guess, she continued. "He was in this house a while ago…he has a pretty smile…he has a funny name…"

I sighed and looked to my left. "Bet it's Two-Bit."

"Yeah, me and Charlene are gonna get married!" Two-Bit droned sarcastically, taking a sip of his beer that he'd been carrying around with him since I got up. Charlene's eyes grew wide. Two-Bit seemed to somehow see her uneasiness, but he didn't know the cause. "What is it, kid?"

Charlene pointed at the bottle. "That's what Daddy threw at us last night. Mommy said that it makes people…" she whispered the last word, "different." Two-Bit's face was for once, serious. "I don't want you to be different like Daddy was, Two-Bit." Charlene added in a small voice.

Two-Bit looked at me for help. I shook my head and mouthed, not around her. He nodded and poured out the beer down the sink and disposed of the bottle. "Don't worry, Char. I won't be like your daddy." I smiled at him and mouthed thank you. But then Charlene went back to her normal self, as if nothing had happened.

Ponyboy came trudging out of his room. "Hi Ponyboy!" I greeted, settling down at the Curtis' tiny kitchen table. He waved and shuffled over to the stove. "How are you on this lovely morning at…" I looked at the clock above the stove. "…at 8:04 am?"

"Wonderful," he mumbled, sitting down next to me. "Johnny up?" I shrugged and went out into the living. He was still asleep, now in a different position on the chair. It looked rather uncomfortable. _How did we both sleep on that thing last night? _I wondered. I sat on the arm of the chair. I was rather bored. This house was so quiet, even with Two-Bit here. He looked so beautiful and…peaceful while he was asleep. He didn't look so afraid and unsure of everything like he usually did. Maybe it was because his eyes were closed.

After about five minutes, Johnny began to stir. I smiled when he opened his enormous black eyes and blinked. "Hello."

"Hey," he replied softly. After a pause, he added, "What are you gonna do?"

That thought had just occurred to me. I mean, a second or two after he said it I was confused. What was he talking about? But then I knew he meant my family situation. My dad….I had been procrastinating figuring this out since I woke up on the Curtis couch.

I sighed. "I don't know." I sat down next to him, and he took my hand, gently caressing it. I leaned my head against his shoulder. "It's so hard. Char is so young, and she understands what's goin' on…but not really. This could be so much easier…"

I wasn't expecting any input from him, and I didn't mind that. I knew Johnny didn't really talk and just sitting here next to him made me feel a little better. "Life's not supposed to be easy." He reminded me.

I nodded. "Still…why did alcohol have to be invented? What good does it do in this twisted world? Nothing! People just drink it so they can do stupid things and get arrested and hurt the ones they love…"

We were silent for a minute and he had this really weird look in his eye, but then he spoke up. "I never thought I'd see you sad, Carrie Anne." I didn't really know how to respond to that, so I stayed silent.

Char bounded in. "Hi Johnny! Are you my sister's boyfriend now?" Johnny turned red under his tan and didn't answer. Ponyboy came in behind her, grinning down at her. "Gee, I hope so. You're real nice!" I chuckled. She could seriously alter any mood, even if…Dallas had….I don't know, killed someone, she'd make everyone happy. I silently thanked God that Charlene hadn't met Dallas yet, because her behavior might provoke someone into commiting something like that.

Johnny turned back to me. "I think you should go see your mom," he muttered in my ear. I nodded and got up. "See you later, Carr." I kissed him on the cheek and pushed his hair out of his eyes. It was forever in his eyes. He didn't seem to care, but I loved seeing his eyes.

I smiled. Carr, a nickname, I guess. I took Charlene's hand. "Bye guys," I called. I heard a muffled goodbye from the kitchen from Two-Bit. "YOU'RE WELCOME HERE ANYTIME!" That must have been Ponyboy. I wondered how he and his brothers could stand being so nice.

**--**

As soon as I'd opened the door and Charlene and I had stepped inside our house, my mother came sprinting up to us. "Where were you two?" she interrogated. So much for her not caring about anything. Her green eyes that were identical to mine were red, bloodshot, and puffy, like she'd been crying or something. My mood instantly changed from annoyed to confused. Char was looking up at her in wonder and worry. When I didn't respond right away, she hugged us. "Oh, girls…"

She saw the bandage that ran from my shoulder to almost the middle of my upper arm through my short-sleeved pajama shirt. "Did he hurt you?" my mom asked me. _How did she know? _I thought. _She was working, and it's not like Dad would tell her or she would find out. But wait…him and Mr. Herbert were so drunk they wouldn't be able to leave the house. She must have came home to two hangover-bound men occupying the living room._ I immediately felt sorry for her, and I nodded. I was about to protest and say that I was alright, but then more tears filled her eyes, and she began to squeeze the life out of Charlene and I, and I couldn't make more than a breath.. "Where were you? You didn't go to the hospital, did you? Wait, you couldn't have…I would have known…"

I shook my head. "Johnny's friend's house. They helped us and let us spend the night."

"Yeah! We went to Sodapop's house!" Charlene piped up. This time, her energetic and joyful nature would not get us out of this mood. But my mom's face seemed a little less worried once Charlene mentioned Soda's name.

My mother nodded. "Ah, yes. The Curtis boys. Dawn's mother told me all about them and how they were friends with their parents. I don't know how they can get along without their parents. The oldest, Darrel…" My mom sighed. "I don't know anyone else who could do what he does. He's being the rock of their family at such a young age. They're such sweet boys…" I tuned her out. I never thought about why there were no real adults at the Curtis house. I didn't know their parents died…

Then I thought back to the first time I'd met the Curtis brothers and Dallas almost a month ago …back when Ponyboy got jumped. I remembered Darry's words. _"I don't want to be mean, but I just get so…angry! I don't want to lose any more people, Carrie Anne! I couldn't take it!" _ I remembered my thoughts of confusion and I remembered thinking Darry was crazy and venting about something that I didn't understand. And I realized that it was what he meant.

We all went and sat on the couch. Charlene seemed to sense something more than just my mom being worried about us. "Mama? What's going on?" she asked seriously. Sometimes, she can be so wise and…beyond her years.

My mother took a deep, quivering breath. "Your father was angry. He packed a bag this morning and headed out." She began to sob, but she turned her face away from us. My mother was a woman of pride. She didn't like people to see her cry. I didn't cry; I had a feeling something like this would happen, and I was glad my dad wouldn't continue to tear up our family's relationship. Charlene comforted my mother while I made her some tea.

After about fifteen minutes, my mother had gotten hold of herself. She hugged us both. "We're strong women, aren't we girls? We can get through this, can't we?"

"Sure, Mom," I replied, just for her sake.

**--**

There was a knock at my door late that night. Our first night without fights and an intoxicated freak(otherwise known as my father)inhabiting our house, tearing things apart. "Tears on my pillow…pain in my heart caused by youuuuu-" I sang until I heard the knock. "Come in."

There was Charlene. She seemed to keep taking residence in my room. "Carrie Anne? What if Daddy comes back when Mommy's at work tonight?"

"He won't, Char."

"But what if he does?" she pressed on, anxiously. I really had no idea what we'd do if that happened, so I didn't want to answer her. "Can we go back to Soda's house?"

I shrugged. I really didn't want to be a burden to them. I mean, they helped me when those sick Soc boys jumped me, and they let my sister and I spend the night at their house. They were wonderful people.

"Carrie Anne? Can I stay with you since Mommy's goin' to work?" she mumbled the question as she was beginning to nod off to sleep on a pillow at the end of my bed.

"Sure." I replied, switching the lamp off and turning off the radio.

About five minutes later, when I was half asleep, I heard another question. "Carrie Anne? Is things gonna get better?"

I paused. "Sure, Char. Things are gonna get better," I lied. I was trusting my gut, like my mom always told me to do. My gut told me this was only the beginning of the bad things. And I would find that out about an hour later.

**Yes, I know that is basically a "filler" and not much happened, but I have an idea for the next chapter. So much is going on right now…it's insane. I hope you didn't think it was too terrible, please review!**

**Stay Gold**

**Jenna**


	9. Bring on the Rain

Fall for You

***Hello people. I am having a really tough time, stuff's been happening…*sigh*and I am eliminating the "And I would find out an hour later" ending of the last chapter…I'm doing a different version of that in this chapter. ****I want to let the story progress, even though this IS chapter 8…or 9…I don't even know. Oh, well whaddaya know! It's Chapter nine, already!**

**Dramaholic74-Yeah, I was thinking about that when I wrote the first chapter, I remember. I wanted her to gradually meet everyone. You spelled Charlene's name right :D And that's how I'd react, because I don't like cursing ******** I'm glad you like it, I hope this chap isn't too terrible :D Stay Gold**

**TheNightimeSky-Oh my gosh, when I read the first sentence I was afraid it'd be a flame! Thank you, I'm glad everything was good. Steve just seems like one of those people who'd get really mad if you stole his shoes from my perspective. LOL thank you for being my first reviewer for this chap!**

**ExtremeWriter-Haha, I just love writing Charlene's character. It's so fun for me. My friend's little cousin actually has a crush on Rob Lowe who plays Sodapop, and it's really cute. That is a really good idea, actually! I HAVE to use that! Your ideas for my stories are way better than mine :D LOL it was hard for me to read Anne of Green Gables, it was really stupid, and I laughed at the thought of Pony reading it for some reason. I don't know, maybe he'd like it. Mkay PM me, I want to know! LOL thank you for reviewing.**

**music was there-Yes, Johnny is a little more talkative. It's hard for me to write his character, even though he is the one that I relate to some of the time. I mean, of course he'd get more talkative because…well, he is with Carrie Anne! But I'm always debating whether to make him say a few words at a time or…a little more. It's hard for me, because most of the time I'm like Carrie Anne, but most people don't know that behind all that I'm basically a Johnny. Which makes no sense, I know. Thank you for reviewing!**

**Celestra-Thank you for the constructive criticism, that will really help me! And thank you for reviewing, I'll try to remember all that you've told me :D**

**Ember-Thank you!**

**rezmutt-I am entirely attracted to Johnny. From the time I read the description of him for the first time eight and a half months ago to now, I've loved him, he's been my favorite character. Even though we don't have a lot in common, I can write about him easiest. I really would do it from Johnny's pov but I am SO BAD at that! It's way easier for me to do it in Carrie Anne's perspective, and a lot of times it's harder for me to follow stories with multiple povs. Sorry! Your feeling, though, is right. But their dad won't come back for a while.***

I was walking to the DX with Johnny, because my mom told me I needed to get her some more milk. I had told him what had happened, and he was sympathetic. But this afternoon I could tell his mind was also on something else and it was really bothering him. I led him over to a bench in the park we were at. "Johnny. What's wrong?"

He avoided my eyes, and I took his hand. "You know you can trust me with anything, right?" He nodded, and then he looked back up at me.

"It's Ponyboy," he admitted. "He's upset. About his-"

"Parents," I finished, nodding. I'd be surprised if he wasn't upset, because I mean, not many people can lose their parents at thirteen and not be broken up over it. I could tell it was uncomfortable for him to talk about. Johnny nodded.

"He's my best friend," he said in a voice just barely above a whisper. I felt so bad for him, of what I'd heard about Ponyboy's parents were that they were amazing people, and Ponyboy…his brothers are all so different, but since it's been a month after their parents died, they have to be going through a lot. "I hear him crying sometimes."

"Oh Johnny," was all I could think of to say. I put my arms around him while he stared at the ground, tears forming in his eyes. "Do you miss them?" I felt him nod. I sighed. _They've been through so much terribleness in their lives and they don't deserve any of it. What have they done to the world, anyway? It's not like Ponyboy's ever done anything wrong to anyone, or Johnny…_ "Do Soda and Darry know about it?"

"I don't know…I hate seeing him like this, Carr." I leaned my head against his shoulder sympathetically. I hated seeing Johnny like this. Ever since I'd met him, he'd always seemed so…sorrowful. Scared. And just…well…not happy. I cherished the moments when he was happy, though. But then he sat up. "Let's go."

I kept holding on to his hand as we walked into the DX. Soda was at the front, looking bored. "Ohhhhhhh, please stay with me, Diana," he sang off-key. Then he began to ramble sarcastically. "Welcome to the DX gas station, with the lovely singing of Sodapop Curtis! He sings everything-from the Four Seasons to Elvis, from Paul Anka to Buddy Holly, and from Frankie Avalon to…" he seemed at a loss of ideas. "The Supremes! What would you like to accompany your experience?" I stared at him, laughing.

"CURTIS! QUIT YOUR FLIRTING WITH THE CUSTOMERS!" a man's voice yelled from the back. He sounded annoyed, but slightly amused.

Soda rolled his large brown eyes. "I ain't flirting, Boss! Carrie Anne's Johnny's girl!" Johnny's ears turned red. "I will ring that up for you right now." He took the milk. "Would you lovebirds be kind enough to tell my kid brother who's home that I won't be home til six?"

"I will, just let me get this milk home," I answered, paying him and heading out.

Stepping into my house, Johnny was on the porch like his feet had been glued there. "Come _on,_ Johnny!" I whined, grabbing his wrist and pulling him in. "MAMA!" I called out.

"Kitchen!" was my answer. I went in there and my mother was at the table, drinking tea and reading a magazine. She looked up when she heard us come in. "Why, hello Johnny!" she greeted when she saw him.

Johnny continued to stare at his feet, but he muttered a quiet "Hi."

My mom smiled at him and turned to me. "Here's the milk," I said, putting it into the icebox. Johnny followed me over there, he was just like a puppy. It was so cute, but I could relate to it. I think he was nervous being in my house. "And I'm gonna be at the Curtis' because Ponyboy came home and Soda wants him to know something. I'll be back."

"Alright. Bye Johnny," my mother called after us. We went outside and began our trek to the East Side.

"My mom's not the kind of person that would bite your head off, you know?" I informed him. He nodded. "Don't be so shy around her. Charlene's the one who somehow twists your words around." But then I stopped myself and laughed. Johnny shot a confused look at me. "Here I am, trying to control the way you are! I'm sorry."

When we arrived at the Curtis house, Ponyboy wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. Or the bathroom. But Johnny shushed me when I started to call out his name. "Shhhhh…listen." I listened, and I heard the sound of faint crying. _Oh, that poor boy._ I ran to Ponyboy's room, but not knowing where it was, I was like…blind. I had to follow the sounds of his crying. Luckily, the Curtises didn't live in a really big house so it wasn't too hard to find.

The door was about a crack open. I peeked in. There was Ponyboy, sitting on the end of his bed, his face in his hands. I went and sat by him, hugging him. Johnny came in soon after and put a hand on his friend's back. We were silent as he cried, and he began to cry into my shoulder. So I just held him. After a while, he seemed to be all cried out. The area around his beautiful green-gray eyes was large, red, and puffy. He looked tired and feverish; it hurt to look at him. "Pony, you're real sick, man." Johnny told him.

Ponyboy nodded and he lied down on his bed. I sat down on the end against the wall. "Soda said to tell you he won't be home til six," I told him. Ponyboy nodded. "Do you need anything?"

"No," he replied softly. I looked at him sadly.

"Okay. I really have got to get home, help my mom fix dinner." I excused myself. I felt really bad about leaving them, though. I hugged Ponyboy. "Feel better, okay?" Then I went over to Johnny and I kissed him. "Bye. I love you."

"Love you too," he muttered. Hearing him say that made my heart skip a beat. I smiled at them and I walked out of there. Once I got outside and the breeze hit me, my shoulder was colder than the rest of me. I looked down at it, and from Ponyboy crying on it, it was all wet. Oh well.

**---------------------**

"That was longer than I expected," my mom remarked as I came in. Charlene was setting the table for three. I was surprised that she wasn't talking. Charlene loves to talk. She loves to sing. She loves to do anything that makes noise. "Or did you run into something on the way there?"

I shook my head. "No. It was Ponyboy." My mother seemed to notice the tearstains on my sweater. She nodded, her eyes softening. Charlene didn't seem to notice. "Saw Sodapop today, Char."

She smiled. "Soda's real nice," she told my mom. "He's real pretty, too. He's as pretty as Elvis!" I stifled a laugh. While Elvis was a very good-looking man, I agreed. Soda would make a great singer or movie star. Well…I don't know about a singer, considering his off-key-ness at the station.

"Pretty as Elvis, huh? This true, Carrie Anne?" my mom joked. It felt good to be happy again. Even though it was only the third day, we seemed to be getting along a lot better without my dad. Though I did miss the old days, before he changed…he was always so happy and joking. He reminded me a lot of Soda or Two-Bit.

I giggled. "Elvis Presley and Sodapop Curtis got nothin' on Johnny Cade!" I pronounced. My mother laughed, and Charlene smiled.

"I like Johnny. He's real nice too. It's funny when Carrie Anne kisses him because he gets this funny look on his face!" Char made a face similar to shock or what you'd see on a fish. My mother glanced at me.

"Carrie Anne and Johnny have kissed?"

"Yeah, Mama!"

I glared at Char. "Thanks a lot, kid."

"He a good kisser?" my mother asked me playfully.

"I can't have that kind of conversation with my mother!" I informed her. My mother started laughing. "But he's not bad," I added, feeling the heat rise in my face.

"What are his parents like?" Mom asked.

That made me think. I hadn't met Johnny's parents yet, and no one had ever brought them up. It was like an unmentionable thing. "Um…I don't know," I admitted. "I haven't met them yet."

**----------------**

At around six on a Friday night the next week, I was talking to Dawn on the phone. Since she knew the Curtis brothers, we always talked about them. And it was no big secret that she was crushing on Soda, like my little sister. Dawn loved all the Curtis brothers, but she knew Darry was too old for her, but she adored him, Ponyboy and Soda all the same. "But I have no chance with him," Dawn finally sighed.

"Why not? You're nice!" I told her.

"I don't have a chance with him because of Sandy," she told me. Before I could ask who Sandy was, she already was continuing. "Sandy's his girlfriend, and he really loves her." She sighed again. _Gosh, she's just full of sighs today. _"I wish I could find someone that I really loved." There was a pause. "Do you really love Johnny, Carrie Anne?"

"Yes," I answered, without thinking. I didn't have to. I loved Johnny that much, and we'd only been going out of about three weeks. He was a great guy.

"Well, I'm glad you've found someone. I'm never going to date a Soc from our school, all the boys are so mean…well, except a couple, but they're like those Socs I told you about a while back…the ones that are nice when you're alone, but with their friends they're jerks. I gotta find a greaser or someone…"

"Steve Randle. Two-Bit Mathews. Dallas Winston. Darry Curtis-" I began naming them off.

"Steve is mean! Two-Bit is almost eighteen, Dallas is just scary, and Darry is nineteen!"

"Well then, what about Ponyboy? You think he's cute, don't you?"

I could hear Dawn nervously giggle. "Yeah, and we used to be best friends. But I haven't talked to Ponyboy in forever…besides, he's thirteen. I'm fifteen, remember?"

"Age ain't nothin but a number, honey," I reminded her. She laughed. "Anyway, Pony needs someone right now real bad. He's got his friends and his brothers, but life is really hard for him right now." I paused, debating whether to tell her what happened last week. "He cries about his parents."

Normally, I wouldn't tell someone something personal like that, but Dawn has known Ponyboy forever. And she's always sympathetic, she'd never tell anyone or make fun of him or anything like that. "Oh, poor baby! All the times I've seen him, he hasn't been smiling. We should do something to cheer him up! All the boys, actually!"

I was interested, because lately Soda had been a little less happy and same with Johnny. Darry…I didn't really know Darry as well as the others, and I saw Dallas occasionally. "Okay. What should we do?"

"I don't know, I was hoping you'd think of something…hm…we should go visit them! And…and…WE SHOULD BRING COOKIES!" She proposed, screeching the last part.

"What a great idea! Everyone loves cookies! When should we do it?" I asked. Dawn was good at thinking. I always acted without thinking, though. If I had it my way, we'd be on the Curtis' doorstep singing Get a Job by the Silhouettes to Two-Bit. That would be funny! He was a sophomore, almost eighteen, and didn't have a job yet. Something told me that he wouldn't for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. Or at least til he turned thirty.

"What's wrong with tonight? You can spend the night at here, and if you get over soon enough, we'll have the cookies done before eight and be able to run over and drop them off! They won't even mind, because I used to drop by their house at random all the time! Go ask your mom, hurry!"

"Okay," I replied, and I put the phone down on the bed. I bounded down the stairs and into my mom's room where she was helping Charlene draw a picture.

"Charlene, what kind of artist are you going to be?" my mother asked her as Charlene colored in something that was either a person or a multicolored blob.

"Oh, markers and crayons," Charlene replied nonchalantly. I grinned, and my mom looked up at me. Char looked up too. "Hey Carrie Anne, look! I'm drawing you, and Johnny, and Pony, and Dawn! You're all happy!"

I smiled at her. She was so innocent. "Gee Char, that looks great! Mama, Dawn and I are gonna make some cookies. Can I spend the night at her house?"

"Sure. You can walk over there right now," my mother told me. I nodded, hugged them, and ran up the stairs.

"What took you so long? I counted to one hundred and two!"

"She said yes, I'll be right over!" I hung up the phone quickly and grabbed some clothes for the next day, then headed out.

**-------------------**

When I got to Dawn's house, she was already making the cookies. "Dawn?" I called as I stepped inside. Her family always tells me not to knock. They're a lot like the Curtises. "Daaaaaaawn?"

"In the kitchen!" I heard a yell. I went in there. "Dang, you're fast!" She already had the batter on a cookie sheet, and she was getting ready to put the cookie sheet into the oven. When she did, we sat down at the kitchen table. "So, how have you been in the fifteen minutes since I talked to you?"

"Fine," I replied. Dawn's older brother Jesse walked in. Jesse was really nice, and even though he was sort of friends with a few of the Socs, he was also friends with Two-Bit. He was really nice. "Hello!"

"When did you get here?" he asked, taking out a Pepsi.

"A couple minutes ago." He nodded, then went into the living room. After about a half an hour, the cookies were done. We put them all on a plate and decided to walk over and give it to the guys. We skipped down the sidewalk, talking about random things. Everyone was outside today; it was a nice day. A lot of people had their radios out and we'd sing whatever song that came on.

Once we were there, we decided to knock even though we were used to walking right in. We heard muffled conversations through the door and then someone opened the door. It was Ponyboy. "Merry Christmas!" Dawn pronounced. He stared at her with a confused look on his face.

"Happy…BIRTHDAY!" I added. "These are for you! And you have to share." I held out the plate of cookies. Pony grinned, now understanding what the purpose of walking to his house carrying baked goods was and let us inside. "Hello, people!"

There was Two-Bit, Soda, Darry, and Steve. No Dallas. And no Johnny, either. "COOKIES!" someone yelled(I do think it was either Two-Bit or Soda, because Pony was standing right there, I rarely see Steve happy, and Darry wasn't the type to scream over cookies), and there was a stampede. In about ten seconds flat, I was holding an empty plate.

"You carnivores!" I insulted, they just laughed at me. I grinned broadly, even with Johnny not here, being around these guys made me feel really good because of the way they were. "Hey, where's Johnny?" I asked no one in particular. Dawn sat herself down on the arm of Darry's chair and I sat down by Ponyboy on the couch.

"Home," Pony hiccupped. Then through the open window, we began to hear screeching. Swearing. And then a door slamming Everyone seemed to know what was going on, except for me. I felt so alone. I gave Dawn a questioning look, and she shook her head. It was my cue to not say what she was predicting: "What's going on? Why does everyone understand except me?"

About two minutes later, someone staggered through the door. It was Johnny. "What happened to you?" I asked, running toward him. I took his arm and led him over to the couch. He didn't answer me; he just looked at Ponyboy with a look that said "help me" on his face. "Johnny!" I waved a hand in front of his face. I was really worried about him; his face was white.

He had a long scratch from his wrist to the inside of his elbow, and he had a black eye. His arm was shaking. Darry appeared with a first aid kit and went to work on it. _The way they're behaving…it's as if this happens a lot…_ I realized. I sat down on the floor facing Johnny, so he wouldn't be able to avoid me. "Johnny. Please tell me what's going on."

All eyes in the room were on Johnny, and he looked very uncomfortable. He took a deep breath. "When I do things wrong…my dad beats me." He said simply. My eyes widened. _Why would someone beat Johnny? What would he do that's wrong enough to be beaten for? _ I wondered. _He's so fragile…and scared…is this why?_ Darry put a long strip of a bandage on his arm, and I put my hand on his knee, pulling myself back up on the couch next to him.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He hesitated. "I thought you wouldn't like me."

Before I could say what I would normally react with (something along the lines of "What were you thinking?") I kissed him gently on the cheek. "I'd love you no matter what." He looked back at me, pain visible in his eyes. But then he kissed me back.

"Awwwwwww!" Two-Bit drawled. We all laughed, and it took the drama out of the situation. Even though it was pretty bad, and I really didn't want Johnny hurt. But something did happen out of all that. Now I knew that Johnny and I could be honest with each other; there were no secrets. He knew about me, and I knew about him. We were really in love.

***Okay. ExtremeWriter, if my use of your idea sucked, I'm very sorry ******** I know this wasn't the best chapter, but I have sequel on my mind. The sequel won't be very long…and a lot of you will probably be very angry with me and I will be angry with myself…but I want this to last for a little while longer and then I'll do the sequel. And I'm sorry about this chapter being a little pointless, but I couldn't think of anything! I'm writing another story, not a fanfic, but I've been thinking about it all day.**

**BTW: Has anyone heard the song "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance? It is an amazing song. If you haven't heard it, I strongly recommend you YouTube it or whatever because my friend just burned me the Welcome to the Black Parade CD and for some reason it made me think of Johnnycake in the end. Except he was burned, he didn't have cancer. Very good song. Anyway, until next time stay gold,**

**Jenna***


	10. Be my Escape

***Another time I get a flood of emails with reviews, and these really helped!**

**Celestra-I am so happy I improved enough for this to be one of your favorite chapters :D I'm glad you like it, it makes me feel so good inside when I read reviews like this. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you like this chap ******

**rezmutt-Thank you for reviewing, and I know, the last few lines were kind of corny. But I didn't know any way that I could say what I wanted to say except through that way.**

**Confuzzled2011-Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you like it!**

**gotrice0792-Thank you so much, and thanks for reviewing!**

**TheNightimeSky-Yes, yes I know. It was much longer than any of my others. LOL I know, I just randomly thought of that and all of the sudden I was like "Soda!" I LOVE Switchfoot! I like "Dare you to Move" the best! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Dramaholic74-LOL, I love long reviews and it helps me know what you guys are thinking :D Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you liked it **

**ExtremeWriter-um…um…I feel really dumb asking this, but what is a asterisk? LOL. I'm so glad I used your idea well, I was so nervous :D I know, I couldn't think of them randomly going over to the Curtis house just to cheer them up, so I added the cookie thing. I'm not sure why…but thank you for reviewing and helping me!**

**Curlys gal-Really? I'm so glad it isn't a Mary-Sue! LOL it all depends on the person but I think it's spelled George, but I know what you mean :D I'm very hyper too, it's okay. Thank you for your review and your strong expressions of my story :D***

**Fire Fairy Ember-Thanks Ember! I'm glad you like that, because I try to make the character like me and that's why I write in first person.**

**xXEyelinerHeartsxX-Thanks for the review and I'm glad you like it!**

**cold-wet-nights-thank you! I'm so glad that you like it! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!**

**Disclaimer: Do I even have to put this, I mean, it would be almost thirty years before I was born before Susie wrote this…***

I was hanging out at the DX with Two-Bit, Steve, Ponyboy, and Johnny for lunch and we were pretty bored. That's really rare when I'm with them. "Y'all wanna go to the movies tonight?"

"I would, but I've got to babysit Charlene," I reminded him. I've had to babysit her almost every night now. Well, pretty much every night since my dad left, but sometimes this lady at the hospital felt pity for us and took over my mom's shift. She was nice, but we didn't need pity. We were getting along fine…sorta.

"Bring her with." He replied simply.

I shook my head. "She'd get bored during those beach blanket movies. She'd get scared during one of those cheesy scary movies like The Blob. What were you planning on seeing?"

"They're showing West Side Story. Would that be okay?" Ponyboy asked. He had just been sitting there munching a candy bar. I was sitting on a bus bench next to Johnny, who hadn't bothered to say anything. Sometimes, he just stares into space. I don't know if he just plain zones out or is thinking really hard about something. I thought for a minute; Charlene had been exposed to a lot of things as a young girl, like violence, that made her kind of mature in her own Charlene-ish way.

"Besides the fighting' and whatnot, I think she might like it, now that I think about it…I'll ask my mom. What time does it start?"

"Six." My mom would let me, since I'd be with Johnny and Two-Bit and them. My mom had briefly met Two-Bit, Soda, Pony, and Darry a week before. She seemed to like them all a lot. Of course, she didn't know about Two-Bit's drinking or Johnny's parents, or the fact that they all smoked at one time or another. But like me, my mom didn't judge people all that much by their actions. And that was a really good thing.

**-----------------------**

"Wanna stay for dinner?" I asked Johnny as we came up to my house later on that day. He shrugged. "You can if you want, Johnny. Then we can meet everyone at five-thirty." He nodded. Sometimes when Johnny's so quiet it bothers me; but I knew it wasn't his fault he was like that. But that was one of the things that drew me to him. He was so cute. Most girls would go for Soda or Dallas because most thought they were drop-dead gorgeous. I preferred boys like Johnny.

"MAMA!" I called into the house as I kicked off my shoes.

"Yeah, Carrie Anne?" my mom asked. She was trying to move our couch to the other side of the room. "I'm taking a break." She flopped down. "Hi, Johnny!" She smiled warmly at him. My mom had a soft spot for Johnny, she just thought he was so adorable. She didn't know about what his parents did to him…I was trying to decide if to tell her or not.

"Hi," Johnny said softly, not meeting her eyes. It was rare when he ever looked someone in the eye, even me or his friends. I softly took his hand; I knew how uncomfortable he could get. It seemed really hard for him to be around anyone besides his friends, and he was just beginning to open up to me. You have to be real gentle with people like Johnny, because they're so nervous.

"We're going to a movie with the guys tonight. Can Johnny stay for dinner?" I asked. My mom nodded. "And…can Charlene come, too? We're only going to be out til about…eight-thirty or nine, and she'll be with us."

My mom put her "thinking" face on. "Well…what movie is it? She is NOT seeing The Blob, Carrie Anne West…"

"It's West Side Story, Mom," I cut her off. "It's not scary, it's not inappropriate, it's not dumb, it's a musical with Natalie Wood…it's fine."

She sighed. "Alright. But KEEP TRACK OF HER." I nodded and saluted. She grinned. "I'll get started on dinner."

**----------------------**

"YAY! I'm going to a movie with Carrie Anne's friends!" Charlene exclaimed, bouncing up and down. We were about to leave, and my mom was rambling off last minute instructions that I didn't bother listening to.

"…and be home by nine, got it?" she ended. I nodded. "Good. Remember, Johnny, you're welcome here anytime!" Johnny nodded and blushed a little bit. He blushes at the littlest things; I think it's so cute. "Bye, girls! I love you! Bye, Johnny!" she called after us. I thought it was stupid that she was giving me the feeling that she was bidding us farewell as if we were going on a long journey.

"What are we gonna see, Carrie Anne?" Char asked us as we walked down the sidewalk. She skipped along ahead of Johnny and I. There was something on Johnny's face that made me wonder if he was alright or not. I mean, Johnny was always quiet and sort of had a sad look about him, but today…it was like the day when he told me about Ponyboy. I wondered if it was that again. I held his hand.

"West Side Story."

"Really? What's that 'bout?" she inquired.

"It's…" It was so complicated, and I couldn't just tell her that it was like Romeo and Juliet because she didn't know what that was. "You'll see when we get there." Char shrugged and we were all unusually quiet until we got to the Curtis' house.

We went right in. "Hey Charlene, what are you doing here?" Soda asked, grinning at her. She waved, and I glanced over at Two-Bit, who had been drinking a beer, but then put it behind his back because he knew how Char would react. Well, he's not as stupid as I thought.

"Didn't Two-Bit tell you? I'm bringing her," I replied. Soda nodded, and he stood up. Two-Bit, Ponyboy, Soda, Johnny, me, and Char(in that order)marched outside like soldiers in a line. "Where's Dallas? Thought he was coming?" I questioned.

"He's meeting us, just got out of the reformatory," Two-Bit called over his shoulder. _So that's why I haven't seen him in a while…_ I thought.

"Who's Dallas?" Charlene asked me, tugging on the sleeve of my sweater. Soda laughed.

"Oh, she'll like Dallas a lot, won't she Carrie Anne?" I rolled my eyes at him. Oh yeah, Charlene would love Dallas. But Dallas would probably like her when hell freezes over. I had sort of an idea of how Dally would feel around little kids, and he would probably kill my kid sister. She would pester him and pester him…so much that he would probably want to pop her in the mouth or blow up like a volcano. "Dallas is our friend." Soda explained to Char.

We met Dallas at some hole in a fence, and Soda took about five minutes trying to tell him that "We can't sneak in, Dal, there's too many of us!" So we went to the entrance and paid to get in, much to Dally's annoyance. Then, he finally noticed Charlene.

"Who's the kid?"

"Carrie Anne's sister," Ponyboy spoke up. Dallas looked at Charlene with narrowed eyes.

"Hi!" she greeted. He looked at me, and I shrugged. He then ignored her.

"Well, aren't you gonna say hi to the little lady?" Two-Bit asked as he began to sway. He had that beer out again, and he threw it over his shoulder once it was all gone. I just shook my head.

Dallas glared down at the ever-continuous ball of smiles Charlene. "Hi," he replied gruffly, and sort of like he was regretting it.

Once the movie started, Char had a lot of questions. "Who are they? Hey, that one kinda looks like Two-Bit! He's all short and stuff! What's his name? A BASKETBALL!" After a while, I just put my hand over her mouth. I was starting to wish I hadn't brought her along. Ponyboy had been almost as quiet as Johnny the whole time and was sitting on her other side.

"Ask. Ponyboy." I replied shortly. "Whisper, though." Charlene nodded and began to ramble off to Ponyboy, and he didn't seem to mind. I turned to Johnny. He had that _same _look on his face, and it was starting to worry me. I got closer to him. "Hey." He looked down at me. "Are you okay?" He nodded. "Sure?" He nodded again. I knew he wasn't telling the truth but I didn't want to press on. "Okay then." I looked up at him. "Johnny? You know I love you, right?"

He looked down at the ground. "I love you too, Carrie Anne." I smiled at him, and I leaned my head on his shoulder. He awkwardly put his arm around me.

Anyone who knows me might say that Johnny and I wouldn't mesh well because he's so quiet and I'm so loud. I would have said that too, before I met him. I loved Johnny a lot. I guess it's just one of those things that you have to experience to know what it really is like.

But then, I just had to cry when Tony died. But that was okay, because Charlene was crying too. "Why'd Tony have to die, Pony? HE WAS SO GOOD!" Dallas angrily shushed her. I smiled a little bit at that.

After that, we had some time on our hands and we were all a little hungry, so we headed over to the diner. They were having a sock hop tonight, and they didn't have a lot of them back where I moved from. I thought it was real tuff. After I was done with my milk shake and it was about the fourth song I'd been singing to, Soda turned to Johnny and said, "Man, if you don't take her over there and dance with her I think she's gonna explode." I grinned as Johnny stood up, took my hand and took me over there. As we left, I heard a little voice sing, "I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink! Soda, dance with me!" I grinned, knowing who that voice belonged to.

As we slow-danced to a song by the Righteous Brothers, I began to think. I thought about many things. How good it felt to be in Johnny's arms, and just to be with him. Somebody I loved, and somebody who loved me as much as I loved them. He was so, so sweet and I couldn't imagine what my life would be like if we broke up. I know all girls say that when they think they're in love, but I honestly thought that. I knew a lot of people around school were saying we wouldn't last by the new year, which was coming up in about a month and a half, but I didn't care what they said. I looked up into Johnny's eyes and I kissed him. I don't know how long, but I knew the song had ended and Two-Bit was wolf-whistling. I desperately wanted to go smack him and tell him to shut up, but I didn't want to be away from Johnny.

"I love you so much, Johnny Cade. You better not ever forget it," I told him. Around my waist, I felt his hands begin to shake. And his eyes tore away from me. They were glistening with tears. I gasped; what had I said? I took his hand and I led him outside, telling the rest of them to stay here. I sat him down on a bench and sat down in front of him.

"Will you tell me what's wrong?" I asked him. He didn't make a sound, but his chest heaved up and down and he was crying. I was so confused. I pulled myself onto the bench next to him, and I put my arms around him. "Baby…please tell me." I asked him softly.

"I'm so scared, Carrie Anne," he whispered, his voice shaking. "I'm just so scared." I was still confused, because I wasn't sure what he was scared about, but I didn't want to question him. I just let him cry. I was starting to get a little bit cold.

After about five minutes, I asked him just above a whisper, "About what?"

He looked up at me, his eyes red and puffy. "I-I don't know. Lotsa things. I'm scared I'm gonna…die. And never see you again…my dad. He's talked about killin' me. Buryin' me under the floor, and nobody'd know." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I just hated seeing him like this. I just rubbed his back in little circles, and let him let his feelings out. I wasn't sure what more to do.

"You ain't gonna die, honey. I won't let him kill you. And even if you did die, you'd see me again. You and Pony have gone to church, you know the Lord. And everything's-" I swallowed another lump in my throat. "-gonna be just fine."

We'd spent almost twenty minutes out there, and I could feel him shivering. I wasn't too warm myself, and Charlene was still in there with the other boys. "You're going to stay at my house tonight, okay? It'll be okay with my mama, and try to stop crying, okay Johnny? I'll ask the Curtis boys if they can take my sister home a little later. I'll be right back," I told him.

I walked back to the diner and went up to Ponyboy, who was sitting at the table all alone. I sat down next to him. "Hey, I'm gonna take Johnny over to my house."

"Is he okay?" Pony questioned of his best friend.

"Um…not really. But he'll be fine-" I looked at Ponyboy. He looked lonely, as he watched the other boys dance. Out of some coincidence, I saw Dawn across the room with another one of our friends, Nellie. "Hang on." I went across the room. "Hey. Wanna dance with Ponyboy?" Dawn grinned and nodded. "Keep him company, he's lonely. Tell him I said to tell Soda to bring my little sister home later, okay?"

"Sure."

**-----------------------------**

As Johnny and I walked home, he wasn't crying anymore, but there were tear tracks on his cheeks visible in the streetlights and he'd sniffle every so often. He was so broken, I felt so bad for him. My mom was working tonight, it was a Friday, and she wouldn't mind if Johnny spent the night. So I sat him down on the couch, threw him a blanket and got him some water. I sat down nest to him and put my hand on his knee. "Are you okay now?" He shrugged. I kissed him softly and began to stroke his hair absentmindedly. I did that often. I loved his hair, even though it was shaggy and greasy. It was part of him.

"Will your mom mind?" he asked me. I shook my head as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"And Char won't mind either, she loves you," I told him. About a half hour later, of us just sitting on the couch, talking a little bit, and just cuddling, in came Soda, not bothering to knock, with my sleeping little sister in his arms. "I will take her," I told him. "Goodnight. And thanks-WAIT!" I put Charlene on the couch leaning up against Johnny and followed him out. "I must talk to Ponyboy!"

I went out there and got Ponyboy. "Hey. Did you dance with Dawn?" I asked. He nodded shyly. "Didja have fun?" I pressed. He nodded again. "I am glad. Bye!" I ran back inside.

I grabbed Charlene and put her in her bed, then went back out to Johnny. He was already asleep. I guess he was really worn out. I slipped a pillow underneath his head, put the blanket over him, and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. I smiled at his peaceful sleeping form and went to sleep on the chair.

*** I know, that was a rather long and pointless chappie, but I need to move the story along before I decide to do the dreaded sequel. ******** But I am extremely busy and I'm sorry I'm so extremely late with this. Stay Gold. But DUDE! There's this new boy from Arkansas in my school and his name is DALLAS! I freaked out when I heard his name. He's sorta a Johnny, though…I like him! Idk why, he's not even cute! He thinks I'm annoying because I talk too much though. I asked him if I was making his day worse and he's just like "Noooo…." It was funny.**

**Jenna***


	11. Hello I love you

***Hello, people of the fan fiction world! My last chapter…my original idea of it was absolutely terrible, and I'm glad I changed it, even though I nearly cried writing it. It's hard writing about Johnny's character, even though sometimes it might not seem that sad what it's talking about, but…idk. Hard to explain. Now, to answer my lovely reviews!**

**Fire Fairy Ember-LOL putting myself into situations is what I do best! Not really…LOL. Thank you for reviewing!**

**ExtremeWriter-LOL this Dallas…he's not very nice! My friend thinks he's anti-social. He's kinda scary looking and no one talks to him and he doesn't talk. I want to but I'm really scared! Yes, at first I was debating when I thought that up…but then I realized that it's Johnny's dad we're talking about, that man is messed up ******** I know, I haven't wrote about Dally in so long. I couldn't think of much to do with him, because I didn't want to neglect him, LOL. Good idea, I can see him saying that! Oh! You mean this * ? I use those all the time!**

**Dramaholic74-I know, it killed me to write about that! I would have done what Carrie Anne had done, I was actually thinking about what I would have done. I probably wouldn't let go though, I'd be like "Don't cry! Please don't cry!" LOL. Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you liked the chapter!**

**XxEyelinerHeartsxX-That's a good idea, Two-Bit deserves it, LOL! Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Miscellaneous Rhett-I'm going to have a lot of very late updates these days :D I love writing for Charlene. It's so fun for me :D I'm glad my characterization is good, no one wants an extremely talkative Johnny or a happy little elf sort of Dallas unless it's something on purpose, LOL! Yes…I believe I will do that with the threats… and after you hug the crap out of Dally, he will get very angry because I don't think Dally likes hugs. LOL thank you for reviewing!**

**Celestra-I know, I hate those kinds of stories too. They're so unrealistic. And Johnny could never really be sarcastic. I think it'd be so hard for him to break out of his shy little self, and I probably wouldn't love him as much if he did that ******** I am glad my story makes you squee, LOL. I LOVE the time period this is in, it's one of the reasons I adore writing Outsiders fan fiction, because besides my knowledge already, I love researching. I was near tears while I was writing Johnny's little breakdown. I know, I love broken boys so much! Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you're still loving the story!**

**cold-wet-nights-I'm glad you like the story! OH MY GOSH I wish I was in your class! There's a boy who looks a little like Johnny in my American History class and my Health class…he's shy around me because he's freaked out by me, but around everyone else he talks a bit LOL. Thank you for the review!**

**SilverStorm06-thank you! I'll try to put Dallas in a little more. Thank you for the review!**

**And now the eleventh(is it right? Eleven? IDK, I've been writing this story for going on three months now and I don't even know how many chapters it is yet…)chapter of Rebel Yell. Enjoy!**

I woke up to the door opening and slamming, and a small gasp of "Oops!" I mentally rolled my eyes. That had to be my mother, but I hoped to God that she didn't wake up Johnny. I cracked one eye open, and my mom was taking her shoes off. She looked up at me and I waved.

I motioned to Johnny and tried to do sign language. I pointed at him, closed my eyes and opened them with a look of surprise on my face, and shook my head. She gave me a blank look after trying to decipher what I was trying to say. I sighed, got up, took her wrist and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Please, don't wake him up!" I said in a low voice, trying to control the exasperation in my voice. I could be awful impatient in the morning, especially when people weren't on the same page as me. It's the only time of the day that I'm not jumping for joy.

"Oh," my mother replied, beginning to make some tea. She looked dead tired. "Why didn't you say so?" I shrugged. She gave me a questioning look. "Not that I don't object to Johnny being over here, but is there a particular reason he is?"

I thought for a second. I couldn't tell her about what Johnny's dad had done. So I decided to tell some of the truth. "Rough night. He…" I paused. "Wasn't feeling too hot." Technically, that was true. After he got done crying, he didn't look too good. Like he was coming down with something.

My mom nodded understandingly. "Okay. I'm gonna hit the sack too, he wasn't the only one who had a rough night. It was pretty busy up at the hospital." She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"I still don't get how you can sleep with the sun shining in your face." She smiled at me.

"You get used to it after a while. How was last night?" She sat down at the table to drink her tea.

"It was fun. Went to the sock hop after the movie for a little while, and I danced with Johnny."

"What did Charlene do?" A little smile was playing on my mom's lips, as if she already knew.

"Got Sodapop to dance with her." My mom grinned. "She's attached to him."

"He's going on with the blonde girl, Sandy. She's so sweet. I met her one day when she was hanging out with Soda at the gas station and he was fillin' up the car. They seem so happy. Char better watch out."

I laughed quietly. I was glad that I could talk to my mom about almost anything. Most girls don't feel comfortable talking to their moms, but my mom was like my best friend. I had told her everything…everything except Johnny's home life, which wasn't entirely necessary…

"What are you gonna do today?" She asked me as she washed out her mug.

"I don't know. Let Johnny sleep…maybe go over to Curtis' if he feels like it…" I replied. She nodded.

"I'm goin' to bed. Night, Carrie Anne. I mean…morning." _It makes me feel better to know my mom has the same bad sense of humor as I do._ I smiled, just to make her think she was being funny. "I love you." She padded up the stairs, and I went back out into the living room.

A half an hour later, once the sun fully hit Johnny's tan face, he begun to stir and his black eyes opened. "Hey." I greeted. "How do you feel? You seemed…not well last night." _Carrie Anne! Why would you say a thing like that? Of course he wasn't well, his dad threatened to kill him! _

He shrugged. "Sleep good?" He nodded, I guess he didn't feel like talking today, and I didn't blame him. He did look worn out though. "Wanna stop by and see the guys later?" He nodded. "Cool. Come on, you must be hungry." He followed me into the kitchen.

"Okay…so we have leftover French toast…cereal…" I found something in a bag in our pantry that was most unidentifiable…and it smelled really weird…"I don't know what the heck that is, might as well throw it away…um…oh, oh and peanut butter…and oatmeal…I'm gonna have oatmeal, what do you want?" He shrugged. I looked at him. "Johnny, if you don't choose I will choose for you, and what if it's something you don't like?" He smiled a tiny, shy smile.

"I want oatmeal too." I kissed him on the cheek.

"Yay! You talked! I was worried that the Beatles had broke into my house and captured your voice in a jar!" He chuckled, and I was glad Johnny wasn't all not happy.

**- - - - -**

"Hello, Curtis family…and company," I greeted as I walked into the Curtis house. The first thing I did was hit Two-Bit upside the head as hard as I could. **(A/N: Thanks XxEyelinerHeartsxX)**

"Ow! What was that for?" he hollered, rubbing his head.

"That's for last night, smarty!" I walked over and sat next to Dallas. "Ain't my little sister a doll?" His eyes narrowed at my mention of her.

"Sure, Dallas just loved her! Especially when he was dancing with Sylvia last night, she comes up and says, 'You're pretty! Why're you dancing with him?'" Soda answered for him. I held back laughter, I could see that happening in my head. Sylvia scared me. She was an angry blonde chick who was a huge sl*t. Even I felt bad for Dallas for dating her. For Dallas! Why would I feel bad for Dallas Winston?

"Alright, Johnnycake?" Ponyboy asked him. Johnny nodded. So far, his little choice of breakfast was all he'd said all day. Even normal, shy, silent Johnny would have at least talked to his best friend. I didn't think he was feeling too good. I make good predictions.

"Dinner is served!" Soda called from the kitchen.

"What is it this time? Pink eggs and ham?" Steve asked.

"Close! Caramel spaghetti!" Soda replied, bringing out a tray of something steaming and smelling like caramel. My eyes grew wide. Instead of tomato sauce, he'd used caramel sauce. And he didn't put any meat in. It was just cooked noodles and caramel sauce. I didn't even know someone, even Soda, could think up something as creative as that.

"Okay, I want some of that." I informed him, pointing at it.

Soda clapped his hands and grinned. "Thank you, Carrie Anne! At least SOMEONE is enthusiastic!" he answered, the last part directed at his friends and brothers who were staring at the food as if it were some disgusting bug. It honestly looked good. Soda gave me a plate of it and I sat down next to Johnny.

I took a bite. "This is really good!" I complimented. "Good job, Soda!" I turned to Johnny. "Want some?" He shook his head. "Come on, honey, you haven't barely eaten anything all day! You barely touched your breakfast and didn't eat any lunch…"

"Is Johnny going anorexic?" Two-Bit gasped. He ran over and grabbed Johnny by the shoulders. "COME ON, MAN! THERE'S BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN THAT!" Johnny's eyes were huge, and he looked kind of dizzy after Two-Bit shook him like that.

"Hey, drama queen. Let him go before I bop ya," Dallas drawled. He was staying away from Soda's strange dinner too. Two-Bit stuck his tongue out at him and Dallas promptly socked him in the stomach. While he was doubled over, Dallas gave a mean laugh. "I warned him, didn't I?"

"Wow, Dal must be havin' a real good day," I heard Ponyboy say under his breath. I couldn't have said it any better myself. Dallas would have nearly killed him for being like that to Johnny because Dallas was a hothead. But sometimes, Dallas could be a relatively kind hothead to Johnny, but he basically ignored me.

But then, we heard banging on the door. I looked around, and everyone seemed just as surprised as me. "BOY! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" a slurring voice yelled. Everyone seemed to know who that was, even though I had no idea. "Go hide in my room," Ponyboy told Johnny. Johnny, his face white with fear, scampered off to Pony and Soda's room.

"What's going on? Is it the fuzz?" I guessed.

"SHHH! No, Carrie Anne, it ain't the fuzz!" Soda replied, whispering. Suddenly, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"It's not Johnny's dad, is it?"

"Naw, it's MARILYN MONROE! Of course it's him, now shut up ya dumb broad!" Dallas shushed me. I ran to Ponyboy's room, and Johnny was curled up on the bed, holding his breath. He jumped when I came in.

I slipped my arm around his waist as he sat up. "It's gonna be okay," I told him, whispering. "Everything's gonna be fine."

But then, the door burst open. "WHERE'SSSSSS THE BOY! I KNOW HE'S HERE!" someone half-slurred, half yelled. My heart about burst, it was beating so fast. I was so close to Johnny I could about feel his pulse. His heart was racing and he began to shake. I put my arms around him.

"He ain't here," someone drawled. _Wait…is that…Dallas? _ "Just missed him." He lied. Well, Dallas is good for one thing: lying to murder-wanting drunken parents.

"I'M GONNA KILL THAT BOY WHEN I SEE HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!" That same, harsh voice hollered. I looked at Johnny, and though his eyes were squeezed shut, he was crying out of sheer fear.

"Oh, Johnny…" I whispered. He whimpered softly. "It's okay. You're here, it's okay." So many terrible things were happening to Johnny…I felt so bad for him. I didn't blame him for crying.

"Get outa here!" I heard Darry yell. I heard stumbling and muttering, "I'm gonna kill him when I get my hands on him…" in a drunken, slurred voice that I'd heard from my dad before and the door slammed. I could sort of relate to Johnny, but of course, I'd never been beaten or threatened.

After a minute, Darry came in the room. "Johnny?" He put a large hand on Johnny's shaking back. "It's okay, man, he's gone. You're stayin' here tonight." Johnny nodded slowly. "Do you want to be alone?" He nodded again, his eyes still not opening. I decided to follow Darry out.

I looked at the clock, it was around seven. I felt very uncomfortable in here after what had just happened. I was now terrified of Johnny's dad. "Um…I should probably go," I told Darry in the hall.

He nodded, he seemed to understand. "Do you want a ride? It's dark, I don't think your mama would like you walkin' at night all alone…" I nodded. "I'll get Soda to give you a ride."

"Okay. I'll go say bye to him." Darry started to go back out into the living room. "Darry?" He turned around, and out of random, I hugged him. "Thank you." I said into his shoulder. Once I broke away, he smiled at me sadly. He looked like the older brother I'd always wanted.

"No problem, Carrie Anne."

I went back into the room, and Johnny was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. I went and sat down next to him. "Hey. I'm leaving." I lifted his chin up and looked into his tear-filled black eyes. I kissed him tenderly, and when it broke, I hugged him. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He whispered. I put my hand on his cheek and I brushed his tears away.

"Everything's gonna be okay. And you might want to go out into the living room later on, because it is so quiet in there and they are all scared for you," I advised. I smiled at him and went outside where Soda was waiting in the car.

***Hey, people! I know…wasn't that good. Please, don't be brutal! EVERYONE GO SEE TWILIGHT AT MIDNIGHT ON THURSDAY! Well..since it's midnight I guess it would be on Friday, but that doesn't matter! I'm going with my friend. TEAM JACOB FOREVER!**

**Jenna***


	12. Decode

***Hey people! At my brother's soccer came, I saw a hot guy named Milton! LOL! I got many groovy reviews:**

**TheNightimeSky-Well, I am glad you are very happy :D We were all curious when we were little. Some of us **_**over**_**-curious, and I still am, LOL. Oh!*notes to see The Dark Knight* Yeah, the greasers don't exactly have perfect lives. I had to remember that…LOL. And if I wrote you in, I'd let you switch places with Carrie Anne, you could pretend! LOL I'm glad you liked the chap, thank you for reviewing!**

**Miscellaneous Rhett-LOL the day Dally likes getting hugged is the day I tell off that annoying Soc boy who keeps hitting on me and slap him in the face…grr I hate him. Haha anyway I was wishing my mom and me had that good of a relationship, so I wrote Carrie Anne's mom like that. YES! I had everyone in character, I was very worried about that. LOL SANDY IS JUST JEALOUS OF SYLVIA! I just remembered…whatever Sandy told you it isn't true, she's just jealous! LOL! Thank you for the review!**

**rezmutt-All of your questions will soon be answered.**

**ExtremeWriter-LOL I know! Sometime I'm gonna try making caramel spaghetti…Sorry, yes, Two-Bit was definitely kidding about the whole anorexia thing. Two-Bit would never say something like that and mean it…LOL thank you for reviewing!**

**cold-wet-nights-Thank you! Yes, he's so innocent, one of the things I love about him…I will go check out your stories! Thank you for reviewing!**

**Celestra-I know, I love Johnny just the way he is! I agree with you totally :D Yes, Ralph's studliness is almost unbearable! I know, while I'm replying to this I'm not sure what I'll write, but that'd be just terrible if he did push them away. Poor Johnnycakes…LOL yup. Hate that Sylvia, decided I'd somehow set Charlene on her :D I went to see it, better than I thought, Jacob was in there for TEN WHOLE MINUTES! I was in heaven :D Thank you for reviewing, I enjoyed reading your long review!**

**debster35-Thank you for reviewing, I'm glad you like it!**

**Dramaholic74-I know, and what kills me is that he doesn't deserve all the bad stuff, poor Johnny ******** LOL that's okay, Edward's tuff too :D Thank you for reviewing! **

**XxEyelinerHeartsxX-I always have trouble typing the X's in your name! LOL anyway…I'll try my bestest! It's hard for me to write romance scenes, I gotta get some practice…LOL. Thank you for the review!**

**LittleLiz654-Thank you for reviewing, I'm glad you like it!**

**Fairy Fire Ember-I never mentioned to you how much I like your pen name :D It's cool. Anyway, I'm glad you like it. *raises fist*TEAM JACOB!**

**theultimateoutsider-I'm glad you like it! You've been reviewing since the beginning, and I'm so glad you still are. I'm glad it's one of your favorite! OOH! I wanna read your story! LOL thank you for reviewing.**

**At this moment, I am actually listening to the song I had heard when I thought of making this fic. Isn't that cool? I love it! I heard it on The Legend of Billie Jean-great 80s movie, highly recommend it. Listen to Rebel Yell by Billy Idol, it's pretty tuff.**

**DISCLAIMER: Do I need to even put this more? I mean, it's pretty obvious I'm not Susie…***

"Carrie Anne! Look outside, it's snowin'!" Someone jumped on my bed and poked me in the side repeatedly, which I _hated_. I opened my eyes. It was Char, of course, and pointing toward the window. "Look!"

I looked. Barely any snow. "Yeah…Char, we had tons more snow than that back home."

"So?" I sighed and looked at the clock. It was about seven. I decided to get up and get dressed.

**--------------------------------**

Even though there wasn't a whole lot of snow, it was still really cold. I walked to school, shivering because half my leg was exposed under my not-exactly-thick bobby socks. Then some car swerved and pulled up next to me, reminding me of my first day. That someone was Two-Bit, of course.

"Want a ride?" he asked, his gray eyes laughing at me. I nodded. "Hop in." I heard his voice muffled through the closing window say, "Scoot over, Steve, Johnny's girl is hitchin' a ride with us." I smiled.

"You get the middle, Carrie Anne," Two-Bit told me when I opened the door. I squeezed in between Steve and Johnny.

"Hey," I greeted Johnny.

"Hi," he replied softly.

"What am I? A stack of-" Two-Bit swerved again when a dog ran out in front of the car, making me desperately cling to Johnny and cutting Steve off, thank God. "-cheese and crackers?"

I turned to Steve once I recovered. "I imagine you wouldn't be a very delicious stack of cheese and crackers. You could have thought of something better than that." He rolled his eyes at me, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Be nice, Steve." Two-Bit mock-scolded. Then, My Girl by The Temptations came on the radio.

"Carrie Anne, your little sister knows every word of this song. She was singin' it at the hop," Ponyboy informed me.

"Yeah, it was pretty funny," Two-Bit added. "Wasn't it Steve? Oh wait, you weren't there…"

"You think you're pretty funny, don'tcha Two-Bit?" Steve snapped. I guess he did, he _was _laughing. I rolled my eyes. Steve probably would have been a party pooper unless we found that chick Evie that he kept telling Soda he liked...in front of the rest of us. If Two-Bit had heard, he would have blabbered it to the whole school.

**------------------**

After school that day, I had to stay after school for a couple of minutes while my biology teacher Mr. Black lectured me on talking in class. Johnny waited for me, and since Two-Bit, Steve, and Ponyboy already left, we decided to walk to the Curtis house alone. My mom had gotten used to me walking there with Johnny after school, and she didn't mind as long as I came home before she left for work to watch my little sister because she didn't know "what shenanigans she'd get into without a teenage-adult here." I'm nowhere near an adult. I'm not sure if I ever will be.

When we got into the Curtis house, as soon as I stepped in, Soda ran up to me, nearly knocking me over, with Johnny's hand on my back to prevent my fall. "Carrie Anne, Johnny! Y'all have GOTTA help me find my…uh, work thing!" He yelled. I was already suspicious. He pulled us into his room. "I lost it…" and as soon as Johnny and I were both in there, he slammed the door and locked it.

"SODA!" I yelled. I was pretty mad, it hadn't been the best day for me. I banged on the door, and I heard the snickers from more than one person. I heard Steve shush Ponyboy, and I realized they were trying to be quiet. "I can hear all of you!"

Then, they began to talk. "You know, you guys can do _anything _you want in there," Two-Bit informed us.

"TWO-BIT, YOU PERVERT!" I yelled. I turned to face Johnny to tell him something, but then I felt him grab my waist and gently press his lips against mine. I closed my eyes and just stood there, kissing him back. I broke it to breathe, my heart beating a million miles a minute. Johnny was breathing hard. I sat down on Ponyboy and Soda's bed and pulled him down next to me. I flung my arms around him and kissed him with as much passion as I could muster. **(A/N- I have never experienced anything like this, so if it sounds cheesy, don't be surprised.)**

We both jumped and hit our teeth together when we heard, "I DON'T HEAR TALKING IN THERE!" I got angry and started to get up, but Johnny pulled me back down.

We must have done that for about a half hour, forgetting that our friends had locked us in a bedroom alone and thought it was funny. I looked at Johnny once we'd stopped. "I love you, Johnny."

He gulped. "I-I love you too." He ran a hand through his jet-black hair. "Wow…" I smiled at him.

"Johnny? Can I ask you a question?" He nodded. "Um…what does your mom do? Is she as bad as your-" My curiosity was getting the best of me so I was verging on the point of being really nosy. I slapped a hand over my mouth before I finished, and mumbled through my hand, "I'm sorry…"

"No…" He looked at the ground. "No, it's okay. My mom…she just yells. Sometimes she'll hit me, but she's never…" He whispered the last part "beaten me…"

I nodded, and wrapped my arms around him. We sat like that for a little bit, neither of us saying anything. "You don't deserve it, Johnny. You don't deserve any of the treatment you get at…" I couldn't say _home._ Home is a place you feel safe and you're with people you love. His house…it wasn't home. It was just a place. He was hurt, threatened, and screeched at. The Curtis boy's house was more of a home for Johnny, as well as a few of the other boys.

"My dad says I do."

I looked him in the eyes. "No, don't listen to him, Johnny. You haven't done a-" I swallowed the cuss word I was going to say. Hanging around those boys gets you in the habit of wanting to cuss, which I absolutely can not do. "darn thing to get what you've gotten. I swear on a stack of Bibles, you are the sweetest person that I have ever met in my life and you deserve so much better."

We heard a door slam. "I HATE THAT STUPID B*TCH! I CAN'T BELIEVE JOHNNY HAS TO LIVE WITH HER!" That had to be Dallas, and from the context clues I expected he was talking about Johnny's mom.

"Where is the kid, anyway? He better not be at home…" I heard Dallas swear.

"He's in Ponyboy's room," Soda spoke up.

"He okay?" That was the first time I heard Dallas ever be remotely sensitive to someone.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's with Carrie Anne."

"JOHNNY'S F*CKING CARRIE ANNE?" Dallas yelled. "Didn't know he had it in him…"

"He's not! Well…I don't think he is…" Soda was trying to stifle laughter, I could tell.

I was really tired from the day, so I just flopped back onto the bed. My back cracked. _Ow. _Johnny fell next to me, and we stared into each other's eyes. I slowly closed mine and the next thing I knew, I was asleep…

"Hey, where's Pony? I need to ask him something…why's the door locked….OH." I heard. I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Johnny, and he was asleep, his arms around me. I looked up into the doorway to see who had disturbed me, and it was Darry, his face as red as a dang tomato. I made the shush sign and waved. He went out.

"Why didn't you tell me you locked Carrie Anne and Johnny in your room, Soda? I just walked in on them…asleep…" I chuckled, laid back down, and fell asleep again.

Probably about an hour later, another person interrupted us. "You know you could have come out a long time ago-oops, sorry." It was Ponyboy. This time, Johnny woke up too. He looked real groggy.

I looked at the clock on the desk. It was almost six o' clock. "Glory! My mom's gonna have my head, she's leaving soon!" I jumped out of the bed, heading for the door. I turned, and there was Johnny, following me like a little puppy. I loved him so much.

"BYE PEOPLE!" I called as I ran outside. I went over to the sidewalk, and Johnny walked next to me. I grabbed his hand.

We walked past his house, and there was some lady outside, getting out of a car, screamin' about something. And then, she saw Johnny. "YOU LITTLE SH*T!" she yelled, lunging for him. Johnny's face was white.

"Run to the Curtis house, she can't get you!" I told him, pushing him down the sidewalk. I ran toward my house, praying to God that he'd get there before his mom caught him.

**------------------------**

***Okay. So it was kind of short, kinda long. Not much happened, except you do know what Johnny's mom is like and I left you on sort of a cliffy…but yeah. I have more ideas, I need more though! What was I gonna say…oh yeah. I hate cussing, but it's realistic. So that's why I'll put the little asterisk in there. I just learned that word like two weeks ago from ExtremeWriter! Anyway, I wish a happy Thanksgiving to you all! I found out that my friend has been sucked into the Twilight, and I'm almost all alone with my Outsiders obsession. Also, I'm making a clay sculpture of the Beatles for art class! It will be so tuff! Stay Gold!***


	13. Flightless Bird, American Mouth

***Mkay! Hey people, thank you for all your reviews! I messed up on the cliffy, it was kinda dumb how…never mind.**

**ExtremeWriter-LOL I know what you mean. Yeah, sorry ******** Yeah, it was out of randomness, it was just something I thought up…I couldn't think of anything else. So I was just like, Hey I'll just have them get locked in a closet. No one knows how my mind works…Thank you for all of your con-crit and suggestions, I really appreciate it!**

**rezmutt-Yes, both his parents are alcoholics.**

**Miscellaneous Rhett-Thank you! LOL I like writing things like that too, so you might just get what you want :D LOL yes I already knew that because we were IM'ing, LOL. *laughs and points at Dally trying to get away*hehehe :D**

**TheNightimeSky-Oh…*makes note to see The Dark Night*LOL Darry…Haha, groupie, I like that. Thank you for the review and telling me what you thought!**

**Dramaholic74-I'm glad you like it :D Twilight was pretty great :D Thank you for reviewing!**

**Jacobownsmysox-Thank you :D**

**Celestra-LOL Johnny…car…sounds like a dream I'd have :D It is kinda corny, I laughed when things weren't even funny! I would have, too :D Yeah, I started thinking about that after I updated, I was like "Well, I'm stupid…" oh well, can't change it now. Thank you for the review :D**

**XxEyelinerHeartsxX-BTW, are you on YouTube? Because last night I was watching That was Then, This is Now and someone with your username left a comment on there…jw. Yeah, that's true, I should have done that…and thank you.**

**Fairy Fire Ember-Haha, thank you :D ***

_How could I just leave him like that? We could have run to my house? There you go, Carrie Anne, screwing things up as usual. Oh, God, please let him be okay, please…I feel so bad…_ Those were the thoughts running through my head as I ran back to my house. _What if his mom got him and he's…_

I burst into the house, nearly slamming into my mother. "Carrie Anne, you're late!" she scolded. But when she saw my face, she stopped. "Carrie Anne, what is it?"

I attempted to recover. "I-I tripped. I'm fine." My mom looked at me suspiciously for a moment, knowing I was lying, but then left. I ran for the phone.

"Carrie Anne! What's going on?" Char demanded. _Gosh, will people just leave me alone…_ She was standing thisclose to me. "I wanna know!"

I dialed the Curtis' number and covered Charlene's mouth. "Hush!" Then I heard the phone ring and somebody that sounded like Darry answered. "Darry, oh my gosh-"

"Carrie Anne, is that you? Weren't you just here?" I heard him yell at Two-Bit to get off of Steve…or something like that.

"Yeah, but…but when me 'n Johnny were walking, his mom started chasin' after him and I told him to run to your house

and-"

"Slow down, Carrie Anne. He'll be fine." I could hear uneasiness in Darry's deep voice. "We'll call you if he comes in, okay?"

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Thanks, Darry."

"No problem. Bye."

**---------------------**

By the next day when I was walking to school, I still hadn't received a call from the Curtis'. I saw Two-Bit's car speed out of their driveway and I felt like walking, so I didn't flag them down. I glanced out by the lot, but then something caught my attention.

"Oh my gosh…" I ran out there, and there was Johnny, lying on the discarded car seat. "Johnny!" He looked terrible. He was cut up and bruised, and one of his eyes were swollen shut. He opened the one that he could. "Here." I pulled him up and put his arm around my shoulders. "Lean on me, okay? I need to get you to Curtis's…" I silently prayed that Soda and Darry hadn't left for work yet.

With a lot of work but determination I got to the front porch. I opened the door and when I stepped inside, I heard Soda yell, "Glory, Johnny!" He took him from me and helped him to the couch. "DARRY! Where was he, Carrie Anne?"

"Lot," I replied softly. I knelt down next to Johnny and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He looked like he was in so much pain.

Darry came out, hopping on one foot so he could put his shoe on and took a look at Johnny. He glanced up at the clock. "I'll stay with him, Darry," I told him.

Darry shook his head. "Naw, Carrie Anne, you'll get in trouble…"

I shrugged. "I don't care."

Darry gave me one of his looks that he likes to give Ponyboy when he forgets something, but I nodded earnestly. He sighed. "Carrie Anne, they're gonna call your mom and tell her."

"Come on, Darry! Please?" I was close to begging, and I'm above begging.

He sighed. "Okay, for a little while. Give him aspirin, and then go off to school. You can drop by during lunchtime. But let me patch him up a little first, I've seen how much trouble you have with Band-Aids…" I smiled at the memory. I'd cut my finger and I couldn't understand how to open the bandage. That's rather pathetic, I know, but there's little things that everybody has trouble with.

I waited till they left to talk to Johnny. "What happened?" I asked him. He took in a breath, but then he grabbed his rib cage as if it hurt for him to draw breath. "It's okay, you can tell me later." I pulled up his shirt a little bit, and his rib cage was so bruised up, it hurt to look at it. "Do you want some ice for that?" He nodded, and I grabbed a bag, filled it with ice, and set it on his rib cage. I couldn't believe how tough he was. A lot of guys would be crying.

"Oh, Johnny…" I sighed. Under his not swollen eye was a big purple bruise-like circle, like he hadn't got any sleep. "You need sleep. Here…" I went to grab the aspirins and a glass of water and made him take two. I looked at the clock. My first hour had already started. I needed to get going, but I didn't want to leave him.

"I gotta go. I'll be back at eleven. I love you," I told him, lightly kissing him. "Bye."

**-------------------------**

"Miss West, you're late," Ms. Schafer told me when I walked in at eight-thirty, fifteen minutes before my first class ended. "Do you have a tardy slip?"

"No, ma'am." I told her, sitting down. Dawn gave me a questioning look from across the room, and I pointed at the clock and mouthed "Later." She nodded.

When class ended, Dawn came rushing up to me. "What happened?"

"Johnny's parents," I told her in a low voice. "He was all beat up in the lot this mornin' when I took him to Curtis' and he's there all alone right now. I'm real worried about him. Wanna see if Two-Bit can take us during lunch to go check on him?"

Dawn's eyes were sympathetic. "Sure, Carrie Anne. Poor Johnny…he's so tough about all this, you know? Ponyboy used to tell me that he'd seen Johnny get beat with a two by four and not let out a sound."

"Yeah…but what really gets me mad is that he keeps going back home," I said. "I mean, I know it's not his fault. He wants to be a good son for his parents…but…" I took a deep breath.

"I know what you mean, Carrie Anne."

It's good to have people who are your friends like Dawn.

**----------------------**

A few hours later, me, Two-Bit, Ponyboy, Steve, and Dawn were all off to the Curtis house to see Johnny. When I stepped in, he was still asleep. "Man, he looks bad," Two-Bit remarked seriously.

"I know…" I replied, settling down on the arm of the couch. I took a blanket off the chair and put it over him. "Ponyboy, it's freezing in here!"

"Saving money. Darry thinks we can do without heat most of the time anyway…" He replied shyly. He'd been awful shy with Dawn around…and maybe it was the subject of money. It made all the Curtises uneasy.

I nodded, and Johnny opened his good eye after weakly stirring. "Carrie Anne?" he croaked hoarsely.

"Hey, honey. How do you feel?" I asked as I went on the floor to be level with his face.

"Fine," he replied. _Liar, _I wanted to say. He was so strong though.

"Hungry at all?" I asked. He shook his head. Ponyboy ducked into the kitchen anyway and started making soup. "Oh well then…"

"Hey, Johnny," Dawn greeted uneasily.

"Hi." He managed.

Fifteen minutes later, Ponyboy brought out some soup. I glanced up at the clock, we needed to be back at school in about ten minutes. "Now, you're gonna eat all of that, okay?" I instructed him. "It's not good for you if you don't eat when you're like this."

He nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you in a couple hours. Then Darry can get a better look at you. Sleep, okay? You really need it." I gently wrapped my arms around his fragile form and lightly kissed him. "I love you."

"Love you too," he muttered. I smiled at him and then darted off to get in Two-Bit's car.

**----------------------**

Later that day, after school, I hitched a ride home with Two-Bit, Steve, and Pony again. Darry was getting off work a little earlier, so he was already home. Johnny was more bruised up than anything, and Darry figured after a day more, he'd be a little better and maybe be able to go to school. I settled down next to him when I got there.

"Hey," I said, curling up next to him.

"Augh, I can't watch. They're getting risqué," Steve muttered sarcastically. I rolled my eyes at him. Sometimes, he just annoyed me.

"You know, muttering is not a good habit to get into." I shot back.

I turned to Johnny. "I really should have taken you home with me instead of trying to get you to run here…I'm so sorry." Pause. "This is really my fault."

"No it's not…" he argued with the little strength he had right now. He looked dead tired, though he'd been sleeping half the day. "You didn't know, Carrie Anne." I sighed, not wanting to debate with him.

"Man, what the hell happened to Johnny?" Dallas asked, walking in. "Was that…"

"Yup. That b*tch is at it again," Steve said.

"Dallas, no smokin' in the house," Darry interrupted. Dallas smashed the cigarette under his boot.

"Move, kid." He told Ponyboy. Ponyboy was kinda scared of Dallas, so he got out of his seat. Dallas sat down. "So what's up with you, broad?" I glared at him. "What?"

"Shut up," I replied. Dallas had a weird look in his eye.

"Glory, don't get your panties in a bunch…" I sighed. Dallas was having a rather good day. He usually would have used his colorful language. He glanced back at Johnny and then…oh yay, here comes the colorful language about Johnny's mom…

I talked to Johnny quietly for a half an hour. "Johnny, you can't go back there."

"But I love them, Carrie Anne."

"I know, but they don't treat you like they love you."

He sighed. "I know…but maybe they'll stop."

I just looked at him. I hated to bring this up because it reminded me of the pain Johnny had been in, but I reminded him, "Johnny, your dad threatened to kill you!"

He avoided my eyes and he didn't answer. I felt really bad about saying it. "Hey…" I brought his face back toward mine. "I know you love them, but we love you too! And we don't want you to get hurt, baby. It would kill me if something terrible happened to you…" I kissed him. The clock said it was almost six; a sign to me that I had to get a move on, even if I didn't want to leave him. "I better get going. I love you-"

"CARRIE ANNE!" I heard a little voice shout. Next thing I knew, Char was running toward me. She had tears running down her face. "Daddy came home…and he hurt Mama! She's lyin' on the floor and she's not awake!" There was a huge lump in my throat. And for the first time since my dad left, I wanted to curl up and die, I was so scared.

***Not the best chapter, nothing really happened that was humongous until the end. This will be one of the last chapters of Rebel Yell, I'm planning two more, possibly three at the most, then I will move onto the sequel. Cliffy! Yeah, so review and tell me what you thought! Bye!**

**Stay Gold**

**Jenna***


	14. Full Moon

***Gahh! You know what makes a sick writer feel better? Good reviews! I've been sick for three days and I updated last night, so I click on my email at eleven today…a bunch of stuff! I so happy…anyway, let me answer these lovely reviews!**

**Miscellaneous Rhett-Thank you Hayley! *giggles*heehee, I love Davy :D I know! We haven't talked in like a week…or close to that. So sad :( LOL it was VERY colorful language :D HAHA! And then Two-Bit will "accidently" spill beer on it! That was funny!**

**cold-wet-nights-I know, poor Johnny ******** Thank you! I'm always afraid I'll make the chapters too long but now I'll make them a little longer :D Thank you for reviewing!**

**TheNightimeSky-I am sorry for the cliffy, lol :D It gives me more time to think! Yes! I think it did make sense, I get it. LOL I do hope you don't get mugged! That would not be good! I never get the real chapter done until like the day before, I change so much! LOL I often procrastinate with just…everything! Thank you for the review!**

**taylorjeanjn-lol I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the review!**

**XxEyelinerHeartsxX-LOL I'll update when I can! Thanks for the review!**

**ExtremeWriter-Thank you for reviewing and the con-crit! I'm glad I did Dallas better…he's very difficult…LOL  
Celestra-LOL Twilight was really corny! I laughed and my friend got annoyed at me…LOL. Yeah I should probably add a little more about Johnny. LOL devious…I love that word! That's a good idea, I might use that. *le gasp*YOU JUST GAVE ME AN IDEA! Thank you! LOL**

**takarifan01-Oh thank you so much!**

**Dramaholic74-LOL, you go right ahead and hope :D Poor Johnny ******** But thank you for reviewing, I really appreciate it!**

**LittleLiz654-Oh, thank you :D**

**Confuzzled2011-I'm glad you liked it, and thank you for reviewing :D**

**theultimateoutsider-Thank you! And yeah, you're right about that…Oh, your story sounds cool :D Thank you for all of your feedback and reviewing, I really appreciate it!**

**rezmutt-LOL we all hate cliffies. Thank you for reviewing!**

**I have this song by Sonny and Cher I heard this morning stuck in my head…"The Beat Goes On." It is tuff!**

**I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT THE THINGS THAT ARE RATHER OBVIOUS! Oh, and I don't own the song Full Moon by The Black Ghosts***

An hour later, Charlene and I were sitting in the waiting room of the hospital with the whole gang…well, Dallas was there for a while but he made an excuse to leave because…I mean, Dallas and I have never been best buddies, and he wouldn't stay there just for me. So I really didn't mind that he did that. It's not like he asked to be created that way. Char and I were waiting for news on our mom. When the ambulance had come, she was unconscious and had this big gash on her forehead from a beer bottle, I was guessing.

And then…my dad sauntered in, and gave us a cool stare. I glared at him. When I had a beef, I really got mad. "Why are you lookin' at me that way, girl?" he asked me coldly.

"Why do you think?" I shot back.

"Disrespect …you deserved everything you got…" he started, but then Johnny stood up.

"Look," he started, and paused. Then he went on, "What did they ever do to you? Why don't you just leave them alone?" That was the most I'd ever heard Johnny say at once to someone besides me or one of his friends, let alone to my scary, threatening, intimidating dad. I don't know how I would have even been able to do that. He had a good stance. He was standing up straight and he had direct eye contact with my dad, something Johnny was usually uncomfortable. Besides his hands shaking a little bit, he looked as tough as Dallas or Darry or Steve ever did.

My dad went toward him, his fists clenched, and I thought for sure he was going to hit him. I mean, my dad didn't take backtalk well. I knew that from experience. Johnny stood up straight and there was a bit of fear and nervousness in his eyes, but the rest of him said _bring it on. _ But then, some police officers came in and saved us all. "Sir. Step away from the boy." My dad turned around, and there was a hint of fear in his eyes when he saw the police. Johnny sank back down next to me, probably glad he didn't get hit by my dad, and I held his hand.

"Thank you so much," I whispered in his ear, kissing him on the cheek. His cheeks turned a little red, and he nodded, his eyes now down on the floor. I could tell he felt good to be the hero for once, not the one who was getting knocked around, and I was proud of him. I was so grateful that he stood up for me.

"We're going to need to talk to you, sir. Were there any witnesses?" one policeman asked.

"Me!" Charlene shot up and raised her hand.

"Yes, well…we'll talk to you later. If that's alright," he said, turning to me. I nodded, and the men left for who knows where with my dad.

"Is my mama gonna be okay?" Charlene asked no one in particular.

"Yeah, Char. Your mama's gonna be just fine, ain't that right, Carrie Anne?" Soda said, turning to me. I nodded.

"Yup. Mama's gonna be good as new." I said.

An hour later, it was around seven. "You know, you guys don't have to stay. Darry, you look like you're gonna fall asleep any minute and…really. We'll be fine." I told the remaining six boys. I got a hug from Soda, I got a look from Steve that wasn't as mean as it would have been, I got a sympathetic-goofy look from Two-Bit, and Johnny didn't leave. I wasn't going to press him to, either. I was glad that I had had a bit of a friendship with Johnny's friends. I wasn't one of the gang, but I was accepted for once in my life. And that was good enough for me.

The whole time, Johnny stared straight ahead. His eyes weren't exactly cold, but they were serious. More than they'd ever been. Charlene flipped through old magazines to occupy herself, occasionally saying, "Wish I looked like Twiggy," and I just sat there. Then, a doctor came in and headed straight toward us. "Are you Carrie Anne West?" he asked me.

"Yes sir, I am." I replied.

"Your mother has a concussion. She will be here until Saturday at the latest, but she will be fine. Would you like to see her?" He asked us. I knew that Char was probably being overdramatic. He was eying Johnny suspiciously. I wanted to smack his face and yell, "JUST BECAUSE HE'S A GREASER DOESN'T MEAN HE'S GONNA DO SOMETHING BAD!" because I feel strongly about that sort of thing. I'd seen people on the street eye Johnny like that plenty of times, and the other boys as well. Tim Shepard (who I'd met briefly a few times before) might pull something bad, but besides Dallas, none of the guys really meant any harm unless the Socs provoked him.

"If that's alright," I answered. "Come on Char." We all stood up, and he looked at Johnny. "He can come." Johnny looked at me nervously, and I nodded.

As we walked down the hallway, following the doctor, I clung to Johnny's hand the whole time. It felt good to know he was there for me. Just a few hours before he'd been on the couch, in pain because he got beat up by his dad. Now, he either couldn't feel it or could but was trying to hide it. I was pretty sure he was trying to hide it, because Johnny's very good at that kind of thing. He doesn't want people to worry about him. But we always do anyway…

We went into the room, and my mom's head was bandaged, and she was asleep. Johnny sat down in a chair, and I promptly plopped onto his lap. He didn't seem mind. But then the police officers came in again.

"We need to talk about your father with you two," one of them said, and he looked right at Johnny.

"He can be in here." I assured them. _Why are people so suspicious of Johnny today of all days? _ I wondered. They nodded.

"Tell us everything that has happened since you moved here." I hesitated, and he said, "I'm a police officer. I'm here to help." _How many times have I heard that before? Heck, that one time when Dallas got cut up by that Soc, what did they do? Leave the Soc alone and throw Dallas into the reformatory!_

I started talking first. "Okay…so at first, my dad was fine. He was like he was before, happy and nice. But then…he started drinking. And everything changed. He'd come home and start yelling at my mom, and my mom started working a different shift. So I'd stay home with Charlene at night. And one night, he and his drunken friend came home and when I wouldn't get him a beer, he threw a beer bottle at me and it cut up my shoulder. After that, he left. We hadn't seen him since…tonight."

That's where Char came in. "And me and Mama were at home watchin' TV and he came in. He started yellin' about how it was his house and that he'd throw us out. My mama stood up to him and said she wasn't goin' nowhere, He threw her against the wall, and then hit her with a brown bottle. Then…I went to Soda's house to get Carrie Anne!" Charlene explained.

The policemen were quiet for a minute. "Your father's going to go to jail for a while, girls. A loooooooooong while." One policeman patted my sister's head like she was a dog or something and gave me a sympathetic look and left. I rested against Johnny's shoulder and looked up at him. He looked really exhausted, and he was bruised up everywhere. He really didn't have to be sitting in that uncomfortable hospital chair with me on his lap, but what really made me feel good inside was that he wanted to be with Char and me.

"I love you, Johnnycake." I told him, kissing him.

"I love you too." He replied. Charlene looked up at us, smiled, and shook her head.

Then a nurse came in. "Visiting hours are over, girls." She told us sternly.

"But my mama-"

"Char. Come on, honey, let's go home." I told her, grabbing her by the hand and pulling Johnny to his feet with the other. "You're spending the night at our place tonight, Johnny." I turned to the nurse, who was staring at my mom. "Something wrong?"

"You're…you're Gloria's girls?" She asked. I nodded slowly. "I was wondering where she was tonight!"

"Well, now you know." Then we left, with the full moon out in the sky as we walked home.

**----------------------------**

Later, Charlene was in bed and I was getting a blanket and pillow for Johnny. But instead of going up to my room after, I laid down next to him on the couch. I stared into his emotion-filled eyes. "Johnny? What do you think is gonna happen now?" I asked him. I needed somebody to talk to, even if that somebody didn't say much themselves.

"I don't know, Carrie Anne." He replied, slipping his arms around me. "But God knows." He tilted his head up to the sky.

I probably said this before, but how can someone who speaks so little put so much thought into the things that they say? Johnny can do that without even thinking about it. That's one of the things that drew me to him. I mean, I can talk for hours about something that has absolutely no meaning. But Johnny…

I sighed. "I used to feel so lonely all the time…but now you're here." I paused. "I don't know if that makes sense, maybe I'm just rambling…"

"I dig." He said. I knew he understood, because people like Johnny just naturally understand things that way. I will never be one of those people. I can barely figure out the secret of confidence.

"Thank you, Johnny." I told him while I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to see his calm, peaceful face directed toward mine, and his arms still slipped around me.

**----------------------**

"I'm gonna take Char to go see my mom today, 'kay?" I said as I walked down the sidewalk. He nodded. "You can go to the Curtises. But take it easy, okay? You still look kinda tense…" I kissed him on the cheek. "Bye. I love you."

"I love you too, Carrie Anne."

**--------------------------**

"Hi Mom!" I greeted as I stepped into the room. She was awake, and I felt really good to know that she was okay. When Char had rushed into the Curtis house and told me what happened, I was fearing for the worst.

"Hi girls," she said, hugging both of us.

"How do you feel?"

"A lot better than last night. I have something to tell you two. We're going to take a break from Tulsa." She explained as we sat down next to her bed. She looked happy about what she was saying.

"What do you mean?" Char inquired.

My mom paused, and she looked like she didn't want to answer her. "Well…we're going to go back to Michigan to stay with Aunt Suzie for a while." My eyes grew wide and she noticed. "A while Carrie Anne! We'll come back in…a year or two."

"What provoked you to do this?" I asked her. I would have screamed it, but this was a hospital… "I can't leave! We just got here four months ago! What about Johnny?"

"Carrie Anne…so much has happened…we're just going to stay up there for a while, okay? Maybe you'll find someone else."

"I don't _want _someone else, Mom! I want Johnny!" I told her. I knew I sounded like a little girl saying, "I don't want that doll, I want (insert doll name of choice here)!"

My mom closed her eyes as she sat up. "Carrie Anne…it'll be fine. Maybe you can write Johnny, I don't know. But we are moving, I talked to Suzie on the phone this morning. And that is final." She said firmly. My eyes filled with tears. _I thought she understood…she understands everything, like Soda and Johnny and Ponyboy…she knew about me and Johnny and how I'd never been happier until we moved here…_ "We're leaving on Christmas."

"Why Christmas?" I asked her coldly.

"Because, I want to leave as soon as possible. Christmas is in four days. We can get everything packed up by then." I sighed. "If it helps…maybe you can put it off. Say goodbye to everyone at the last minute." I stared at her. What the heck was she saying, did she know anything? Char's head was going from her to me, as if she was watching a tennis game or something.

"Why would I want to do a thing like that, Mom? And hurt Johnny? Why can't I just stay here?" I demanded. I usually don't get mad, but this was HUGE.

"Who are you going to stay with, Carrie Anne?" My mom asked me simply. It was a rhetorical question, I could tell, because I had no one to stay with, and I knew that. "It's a done deal, Carrie Anne. We're leaving on the 25th. And I'm leaving the hospital today so we can start packing everything up."

"Well, you'll be packing on your own." I knew I was behaving like a little kid, but I _did not want to leave. _At all. I knew that it was going to be hard and I was going to have to face it. At this moment, I didn't want to think about it because I'm a procrastinator, that's just what we do. I ran down the hall, out of the hospital, to the park, and sat down on the swing set and began to cry. I couldn't do this. As I cried, I looked up at the sky, ignoring the freezing snow in my shoes. "Why God? How could you do this?"

***Yeah, so…that was the second-to-the last chapter of Rebel Yell. I hate to be so close to ending it like that, with another cliffy-sort-of-thing(I'll probably cry when I'm done updating for the last time and when I update the sequel which will be a little shorter because I'm that kind of person)but I can't go on forever. I have a million fan fiction ideas swimming through my head. Time for randomness relating to this that you don't even have to read! I am currently listening to Billy Idol, the awesome guy who sang the song this is named for, because I need to find a title for my sequel. And also…Rebel Yell is like a clothing line or whatever! I was looking at my magazine and it said 'this skirt from Rebel Yell' or whatever! It was tuff. So yeah…please review! **

**Stay Gold,**

**Jenna***


	15. The three Bells

**Hey guys! I got pretty much the same reviews, so I will answer all of this will be a very short last chapter, I'm sorry about that. And I am all giddy right now...**

**Cammy98-LOL I've wrecked people's days before…by accident, of course :D Thank you for reviewing**

**XxEyelinerHeartsxX-No, don't cry! LOL thank you for reviewing!**

**takarifan01-gasp! LOL thank you, I'm glad you like it :D**

**Celestra-Thank you for reading Light On :D and I liked your idea a lot, I never would have thought of it. I hope I used it to your liking :D LOL that is true. Thank you for reviewing!**

**Obsessedfan13-I don't know. I know I am going to write more Outsiders stories because it is a huge part of my life, but I may write an Inkheart one or two, because I am going through an Inkheart-loving stage. The movie comes out next month. Oh thank you, I'm glad you think I have fantastical writing skillz :D**

**Confuzzled2011-Thank you for reviewing!**

**Miscellaneous Rhett-HAYLEY! We MUST talk on IM sometime! LOL I just found out what Death Note was from you like a week ago…*laughs hysterically.*Shove him some more!**

**rezmutt-thank you for reviewing!**

**witchbaby300-Oh thank you! That's one of my favorite things to do in stories like this, I love this decade that it takes place in! I have a bunch of notes in my school notebook that I make during class of stuff to include from the time period :D Thank you for reviewing!**

**ExtremeWriter-LOL yeah, it took me a while. At first I had something with Pony and Darry and then I just said, "No, that won't work," and I just left them alone ******** imagine they made a normal exit, lol. OH! Okay. Thank you for dialog tag correction :D And thank you for reviewing!**

**TheNightimeSky-We all love rambling, I do it often :D You're psychic! That's along the lines of what I've been planning, but not quite :D I'm still changing things. Yes, I will make a sequel, those details will be included in the A/N at the end of the chapter ******** I'm glad you want to read it!**

**This*sniffs*is the final installment of Rebel Yell***

Everything happens for a reason.

December 25, 1965. Christmas Day. Normally, Christmas was one of the happiest days of the year for me. But today, it was the worst day of my life.

Remember, I can be very dramatic.

Unlike all the other houses on our street and in the city, our house was absolutely empty and barren. We had no Christmas tree or decorations, and we had no presents. We didn't have a lot of money. I didn't really mind, because all I wanted was just to unpack all our stuff again and continue living here. We had moved here only four months ago. Everything had changed. My dad had been arrested and I had been afraid at my own home. I had gained new friends and a boyfriend. I had felt like I actually belonged. I always knew I'd had friends; but this sense of belonging was different.

The day before, I had been at the Curtis house with Johnny and the other boys. The house was decorated; there was a beautiful little tree. Darry was making stuff for the next day, and it had made me laugh to see him in an apron, even though he gave me an annoyed look, he smiled. But I'd been very uneasy, because I knew this time the next day, I would be gone. And none of these boys knew.

Some folks might say the Curtis boys' Christmas would be very lonely, without their parents and all; but they'd be fine. Their friends were coming there, and they were like one big family. But I would not be spending Christmas in my house, like everyone expected me to. I would be spending it in a car, driving back up to Michigan. How fun!

I hadn't told Johnny yet, or anyone, for that matter. Except Dawn, who I had called a few hours earlier from a pay phone. There were some "No!"'s among other things that she said as we argued, but then I told her I would be coming back eventually. I thought it was pointless that we were leaving, if we were coming back in a few years.

So, since seven o' clock when I'd woke up to now, ten-thirty, I had been moping around the empty house, thinking. Thoughts and memories of the last four months were swimming through my head. Johnny's face. We were leaving at eleven. How was I supposed to tell him? I had no idea. But I could never face all of his friends. We were never close like that gang is; I and them…but they were friends. You don't often see relationships like those seven boys have.

What a coward I was! I procrastinated, like I usually did with my difficult homework. And now, I was going to put off telling my boyfriend, who I loved more than anything, that I was leaving him.

But then, there was a knock at the door. My mom and Char had finished putting everything into the car an hour earlier, and now were talking about something. I went to answer the door. There was Johnny, with a little box in his hand wrapped in old wrapping paper. It usually would have made me smile while I thought, _He's so sweet, he didn't have to get me a present…I should have got one for him._

"Hi," I greeted. But then, I was interrupted.

"Carrie Anne, we're heading out in a few minutes! Hurry up!" My mom said, striding past me to the door. Johnny handed me the box, smiling shyly. I sighed; I had to tell him.

"Johnny…I need to tell you something really important," I told him. "My mom decided…" I didn't want to go on. My eyes were filling up with tears, and there was a lump in my throat already. "…she decided that we were going to go stay with my aunt up in Michigan for a while…a year or a couple…" I paused, and his eyes were wide. "I'm sorry. I'm moving." Then, I broke down in tears. I set down the box and I wrapped my arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Johnny…I'm so, so sorry…I'm coming back…in a year or so…" He rubbed my back gently, but he didn't say anything. I felt so bad about this. I did that for at least ten minutes. All through that, he didn't say a word.

I didn't know why I was crying so hard if I was coming back sometime in the next two years. Maybe the thought of leaving him even for a while was tearing me apart. I needed him. _Of course, I must be overreacting. I have to be. But what if something happens to him? _I thought. _He's a greaser. He's not exactly the last person who would get in trouble or hurt..._

I finally tore away and looked at him. His eyes were sadder than I'd ever seen them, and he then looked down realizing I was watching him. "I-I'll miss you." I gently touched his face and brought his face toward mine. "Remember that I love you. And that I didn't want to leave you." I kissed him tenderly for a minute, and then I looked back at him through my blurry, tear-filled eyes. "I'll miss you." I repeated.

We both suddenly jumped, my mom was honking the car horn at me. I wanted to scream at her to leave me alone. I wanted to take Johnny's hand and run down the street, hop a train into the next town where we could live. But we were fifteen years old. I wanted to do so many things at that moment that I thought my head was going to explode. But I didn't do anything. At least, not anything I really wanted to do. I picked up the box, and shared one last kiss with him. I hugged him tightly, and then I went out to the car, leaving Johnny standing on the porch, staring blankly at our car as it sped out. I watched him until we turned a corner and I couldn't see him. And still, I watched out the back window at the spot he would have been still standing at.

Once we were on the road for about an hour and I had quit crying, I opened the box that he'd given me. Inside were three little bells on a necklace, and an envelope. They were so beautiful, I almost started crying again. I picked it up and shook it gently, hearing the trill of them. I couldn't imagine where he'd gotten it. I opened the envelope and took out a piece of paper with Johnny's handwriting on it.

_I don't have a lot to say, even though I wish I did to someone as special as you. You've been a great friend and girlfriend to me, and I'm thankful for you. You're there when I'm sad, and when Ponyboy isn't home, you're the one I can talk to. Thanks a million, Carrie Anne. I love you. Johnny_

If only he knew that I would carry that letter in my pocket every day in my new school in Michigan and that I would never take those beautiful bells off. They were the three bells that I would wear all of my life.

***cries*Sucky ending, I know! I'm sorry! There will be a sequel, and it will be called By Your Side. I'm not telling what happens, even though you may have a pretty good idea of it! And I have a lot to say in this so you have the choice to read it. Most of it is about the sequel.**

**Okay. So my Christmas break starts the 22****nd****. And during that time, it will be my vacation, taking a break from my writing, attempting to chill, chattering with my friends on IM(including Miscellaneous Rhett, Hayley because she's tuff like that)and numerous other things. So the sequel will probably not be up until around…the New Year, sometime in January, in late or middle. It won't be very long; ten chapters at the most. But I will try to make them as lengthy, descriptive, and interesting as I can.**

**Okay, and if you're bored, then go to and search in channels Cindymrsh. There is a video on my favorites with The Twinkie Song as the title. If you feel like you want to, please click on it. A boy from the high school choir in my town(he's very talented, whenever he has a solo in a concert it's Beatlemania, everyone screams)and he's very wild and crazy, and he's screaming this hilarious song that he supposedly created. Please click it. Craig will thank you for watching :D**

**So yeah. I'm close to tears, because I've been working on this for more than three months and I never DREAMED I would get this many reviews and this many people would like it.**

**This is becoming very long.**

**I would like to thank everyone who read this and reviewed it, and I am so thankful for you guys reading my work. Hope you read the sequel!**

**Stay Gold,**

**Jenna***


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